# Politics of The Mask



## GURPS

*‘Danielle’ Becomes The New ‘Karen’ After Kroger Store Incident*




A new kind of “Karen” has arrived in town, and she goes by a very different name- Danielle.

After a woman named Danielle Muscato, a trans civil rights activist who hosts the “RESIST” podcast, took to Twitter to blast a manager at a Louisville Kroger supermarket over an incident regarding another customer and mask-wearing, the name Danielle quickly began to trend on Twitter, with many quickly rising to the manager’s defense and declaring Danielle as the new “Karen.”


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## GURPS

*‘Target Tori’ launches fundraiser for fellow viral retail worker ‘Kroger Andy’*

A Massachusetts manager who was nicknamed “Target Tori” when a customer shamed her online has now come to the defense of another viral retail worker dubbed “Kroger Andy” — and has raised $18,000 to send him on a vacation.

Tori Perrotti, a manager at a Target store in Swansea, Massachusetts, jumped into the fray when a customer griped on Twitter about Andy, also a manager, at a Kroger in Louisville, Kentucky.

In the tweet, the customer, Danielle Muscato, explained that she had gone to Andy after she confronted another shopper about not wearing a mask and was threatened with assault.


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## TPD

My manager (daughter) was threatened yesterday with a fine because she was not masked. Can I start a go-fund-her to pay for said fine?


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## PrchJrkr

TPD said:


> My manager (daughter) was threatened yesterday with a fine because she was not masked. Can I start a go-fund-her to pay for said fine?


Put a can on the counter for legal fees. I'll make a special trip to contribute.


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## crabcake

Kroger ‘Karen‘


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## vraiblonde

crabcake said:


> Kroger ‘Karen‘



They always leave that part out of the story - that "Danielle" is a trans activist and general nutter.


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## GURPS

vraiblonde said:


> They always leave that part out of the story - that "Danielle" is a trans activist and general nutter.




Well There Is That ......


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## GURPS

*Nashville city councilwoman recommends attempted murder charges for some not wearing face masks*


A Nashville, Tennessee, councilwoman wants those who don’t wear face masks during the coronavirus pandemic to be charged with attempted murder.

Sharon Hurt, an at-large councilwoman of the Nashville Metro Council, joined an Aug. 5 meeting between Public Safety, Beer & Regulated Beverages and Health, Hospitals, & Social Services committees.

“My question goes back to legislation,” she said during the meeting. “But my concern is — you know I work for an organization, that if they pass a virus, then they are tried for murder or attempted murder, if they are not told … and this person who may very well pass this virus that's out in the air because they're not wearing a mask is basically doing the same thing to someone who contracts it and dies from it.”

“It seems to me that we have been more reactive, as opposed to proactive, and a little too late, too little. So, my thing is, maybe there should be legislation, stronger legislation, I don't know if Mike Jameson is ... can speak to it, but maybe there needs to be stronger legislation to say that if you do not wear a mask and you subject exposure of this virus to someone else then there will be some stronger penalty as it is in other viruses that are exposed,” she added.


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## GURPS

*Florida sheriff orders deputies not to wear masks, bans civilians in masks from office*

A Florida sheriff barred deputies from wear facial coverings in most work settings, authorities said Wednesday, even as the state continues to struggle with record-breaking coronavirus numbers.

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods insisted there's no conclusive evidence that wearing masks curbs the virus' spread — despite explicit CDC guidelines that say just that.

"Now, I can already hear the whining and just so you know I did not make this decision easily and I have weighed it out for the past 2 weeks," according to a memo Woods wrote to staff and was provided to NBC News by the sheriff's office.

"We can debate and argue all day of why and why not. The fact is, the amount of professionals that give the reason why we should, I can find the exact same amount of professionals that say why we shouldn’t."


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## Sneakers

Waiting for someone to suggest ankle restraints.


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## GURPS

*DNR tells employees to wear masks during Zoom calls, even when they are alone at home*

Natural Resources Secretary Preston Cole reminded employees in a July 31 email that Gov. Tony Evers’ mask order was going into effect the next day. That means every DNR employee must wear a mask while in a DNR facility, noted Cole, an appointee of the Democratic governor.

“Also, wear your mask, even if you are home, to participate in a virtual meeting that involves being seen — such as on Zoom or another video-conferencing platform — by non-DNR staff,” Cole told his employees. “Set the safety example which shows you as a DNR public service employee care about the safety and health of others.”

The governor’s mask order requires people to wear masks when they are indoors — other than in private residences.

From a medical perspective, masks need to be worn at home only in limited situations, such as to protect people if someone living with them has COVID-19, said Nasia Safdar, the medical director of infection control at UW Health.

“Beyond that, there is not a reason to routinely wear a mask in your home if that risk isn’t there,” she said.






_Now wear we are pretending Fuk That Noise _


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## Sneakers

GURPS said:


> “Set the safety example which shows you as a DNR public service employee care about the safety and health of others.”


No, sets the example that no common sense is being used and if I were to encounter that, I'd terminate the connection.


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## Hijinx

Daniel is not a Karen and is not a woman either.
There is no Danielle except in this mutilated fools mind.

IF he is indeed mutilated, or just faking it.


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## GURPS

*Nolte: Wisconsin Forces Employees to Wear Masks at Home Alone During Zoom Meetings*


Forcing people to wear masks when not necessary is not only anti-science, it’s punitive and bullying — an appalling abuse of authority.

The idea that wearing a mask in your own home for online meetings “sets an example” is true — but the only example it sets is a stupid and mean-spirited one about how venal and authoritarian governments run by Democrats become.

All this move does is expose the true agenda behind the Mask Nazis, and that is the sexual thrill they receive from bossing people around, from flaunting their authority, from pimping their own virtue.




Umm Go Fuk Yourself .......


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## GURPS

*Illinois governor to require businesses to enforce mask rules or face fines up to $2,500 after Democrats let rule stick*


Despite Republicans who wanted to suspend the rule because they said it could still criminalize business owners, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s fines for businesses that don’t comply with mask and social distancing requirements amid COVID-19 concerns survived a rule committee.

After an hour behind closed doors, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules met to take up Pritzker’s rule that will levy a $2,500 fine against a business for not complying with the mandate.

State Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, said the rule is different than what was filed and universally opposed in May.





My How Authoritarian of them ...... making business do the dirty work


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## GURPS

Democrat San Diego Councilwoman Says People Without Masks And Not Distancing Should Be Arrested
On Tuesday, a Democratic San Diego councilwoman preached a draconian message regarding people who do not wear masks in public and don’t social distance, telling a press conference that the County Sheriff should be arresting those people.

She also attacked President Trump, snapping, “We have not had the kind of national leadership we need, but we have an election coming. So hopefully that will change.”

Jennifer Campbell, who is a retired physician, held a press conference at a park in Ocean Beach, calling out, “I’m Councilmember Jennifer Campbell. I’m a physician, and I’ve been wanting since day one of this COVID thing for this city and this county to get strong. This is a life-threatening situation. It would be wonderful if OB (Ocean Beach) could be its old self, get together, see old friends, new friends and have fun. That’s what we want to happen again. But right now, people who come here with no mask with no distancing, are being irresponsible and they could get sick, deathly sick, and die.”

“Every day, more and more San Diegans are dying,” she continued. “So we have to get tough; and I’m telling you if this situation that happened last Wednesday night happens this Wednesday night, there’s gonna be a law to clamp down. And so they have got to stop it; they have got to behave in a responsible, adult mature manner. This is a world-wide emergency. Every single person has to take part in ending it.”


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## Sneakers

If a person is not wearing a mask, but IS social distancing, leave it be.  The instant you confront them, whether to Karen or arrest them, the social distancing guidelines are broken and is more of a concern than if you left them alone.


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## GURPS




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## Chris0nllyn

Politics of the mask, indeed.

Trump in April. When it comes to COVID, the President has total power over lockdowns.


> Q    Mr. President, just to clarify your understanding of your authority vis-à-vis governors — just to be very specific: For instance, if a governor issued a stay-at-home order —
> THE PRESIDENT:  When you say “my authority” — the President’s authority.  Not mine, because it’s not me.
> 
> Q    If I could just ask the question —
> 
> THE PRESIDENT:  This is — when somebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total, and that’s the way it’s got to be.
> 
> Q    It’s total?  Your authority is total?
> 
> THE PRESIDENT:  It’s total.  It’s total.





> THE PRESIDENT:  But the authority of the President of the United States, having to do with the subject we’re talking about, is total.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...ers-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing-25/ 

Trump yesterday. If Biden as hypothetical President issues a mask mandate that would be crazy!


> If the President has the unilateral power to order every single citizen to cover their face in nearly all instances, what other powers does he have?


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...resident-trump-press-briefing-august-13-2020/


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## GURPS

*Sweden’s Top Epidemiologist Says Just Wearing Face Masks Could Be ‘Very Dangerous’*

Tegnell has long expressed doubt about the usefulness of masks. “With numbers diminishing very quickly in Sweden, we see no point in wearing a face mask in Sweden, not even on public transport,” Tegnell said last month, according to Fortune. “That Sweden has come down to these levels is very promising,” Tegnell told reporters in Stockholm at the time. “The curves are going down and the curves for the seriously ill are beginning to approach zero.”

The Swede’s top immunologist’s comments came after Holland’s top scientists, who have examined data and research about COVID-19, declared there is no clear evidence that wearing face masks helps stem the spread of the virus.

“Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence,” said Coen Berends, spokesman for the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. “There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.”

“Holland’s position is based on assessments by the Outbreak Management Team, a group of experts advising the government. It first ruled against masks in May and has re-evaluated the evidence several times, including again last week. It believes they detract from a clear three-pronged message that has kept deaths from coronavirus down to less than half the rate in Britain: wash hands regularly, maintain social distancing of 1.5 metres and stay at home if suffering any symptoms,” The Daily Mail reported.


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## GURPS

Pennsylvania’s Health Secretary reportedly cut a secret agreement with a car show near the state capital that enabled them to get around coronavirus restrictions on outdoor gatherings.

According to legal documents obtained by local Pittsburgh outlet WPXI, Dr. Rachel Levine made a confidential settlement agreement with the Carlisle Car Show near Harrisburg that allowed 20,000 people to attend their four-day event in June. According to Pennsylvania’s color-coded reopening plan, outdoor gatherings are limited 250 people or less.

The apparent hypocrisy has shocked and dismayed some state lawmakers, who told WPXI the move was “outrageous,” “ridiculous,” and “not fair.” Republican state Rep. Aaron Bernstein, who represents counties in the western part of the state, described it as “despicable,” adding, “It’s not fair that eastern PA set up deals when we abide by rules.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/outr...with-car-show-to-bypass-covid-19-restrictions 

I guess them tax dollars Trump Public safety


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## GURPS

*I Am Sick To Death Of COVID Supremacists*


_But Kira, the teachers and the staff are more vulnerable. Why do you hate teachers???_

There are many teachers and staff who feel just fine about returning to the classroom. In K-12 education, teachers tend to skew younger and have a much lower risk. Of course, that shifts quite a bit when it comes to college professors. Invite those who feel comfortable to return to campus with the students. Those who don’t feel comfortable should Zoom in to the classroom, ideally one supervised by aides and subs. The unions are always begging for more hires. This seems like a no-brainer.

_But Kira, nearly 200,000 people are dead because of COVID. Why do you hate people???_

I have made my case for my informed status on this issue. I know the numbers. We are far, far, far, far, far, far shy of the 3-5 million deaths Fauci and co. promised in the beginning of all this. Even with quarantine measures we were told millions would still die. In a population of 325 million, 174,000 is statistically negligible.

_But Kira, you heartless monster! How can you say you don’t care about all those people who died?_

And herein lies the rub, the very heart of this rant today. I have no belief whatsoever that those screaming at me about how little I care for the lives of others actually care for the lives of those others themselves. My opinion that a virus with a 99.6% survivability rate should not bring a successful society to a screeching halt does not denote my malice for my fellow Americans. Quite the opposite. I care very much about the daily suffering I see as people lose their jobs, businesses, and even their mental stability to this ridiculous response.

I have been patient. I have been a good citizen. I have done everything asked of me. I have tried to be gracious to those who insult my intelligence and qualifications simply because I don’t see things their way. I have tried to understand that people are scared and that not everyone has all the information and I can’t force them to have it. I have chosen the path of acceptance for those who rage and seethe and hiss all day on social media about people like me, people who have the audacity to even suggest perhaps it’s time for citizens to be making these decisions for themselves. I have genuinely tried to be the bigger person. I don’t post memes insulting people who want to wear masks, even as many of my friends and family regularly and smugly post memes insulting those of us who have questions about it all.


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## GURPS

*The Pre-Mask-Cult Science Against Universal Public Masking Hasn’t Changed One Bit*

When it comes to the “facts” you receive about coronavirus from the left and the mainstream media, the only thing that’s certain is the fact that we’re all being gaslit. With the current casedemic continuing at an unabated, albeit slightly decreased pace, the LARPing media, in a desperate attempt to keep life as abnormal as possible until the election, continues to pretend like it’s still April and all of America is New York City. We’re told 1,000+ a day are dying, but we have no idea if it’s coronavirus that’s actually killing them or they’re just dying WITH coronavirus in their system of old-age or whatever comorbidity they had. Meanwhile, America masks-up like it’s 1918, pretending ill-fitting, moist, bacteria and virus-laden cloth muzzles are somehow going to abate the spread of a virus that’s harmless or super-mild to the vast majority of those who contract it.

The masks, of course, continue to be a source of heated debate. Granted, I’ve been focusing on them a lot in my latest columns and social media posts. People sometimes ask me why. Sure, I hate wearing the damned things. I would imagine most people do, except probably leftists who get some sick pleasure out forcing their will on everyone else. They’re hot, constricting, and sap the fun and the life out of most anything done while they’re on, but since when have leftists ever enjoyed life? 

Therefore, since they’re basically useless, potentially harmful, and presumably “guard” against something that isn’t worth stopping anyway even if they worked, I avoid them wherever possible. But even more importantly, I hate the deception they represent and the tyranny they foreshadow. The deception, because this pandemic really ended in May, yet society is continuing like nothing ever changed, and the tyranny because mask mandates represent the camel’s hump in the proverbial tent. If they can force us to do something this stupid, useless, and constricting (remember, some states require masks OUTSIDE in any public area and punish those who disobey with fines) in the name of “public health,” what CAN’T they make us do? What happens if Democrats win and decide to declare “climate change” a “public health emergency”?


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## GURPS

*The Most Powerful Argument Against Forced Universal Masking That You Won't Read In The Establishment Media*


As far as whether or not masking actually works to “stop the spread” of coronavirus, I can point to studies (assuming - and this is a big assumption - that Big Tech allows them to remain online), and the masking proponents can as well. We can go back and forth on the potential long-term dangers posed by non-medically trained people wearing, breathing through, touching and constantly fiddling with veritable Petri dishes for several hours a day (I’m right, they’re wrong, but whatever …). We can even debate whether forced-masking is truly an infringement on personal freedoms (it is) or discuss the validity of the view, popular among many go-along-to-get-along Christians these days, that masking is somehow the key to “loving your neighbor” (it’s not).

As far as whether or not masking actually works to “stop the spread” of coronavirus, I can point to studies (assuming - and this is a big assumption - that Big Tech allows them to remain online), and the masking proponents can as well. We can go back and forth on the potential long-term dangers posed by non-medically trained people wearing, breathing through, touching and constantly fiddling with veritable Petri dishes for several hours a day (I’m right, they’re wrong, but whatever …). We can even debate whether forced-masking is truly an infringement on personal freedoms (it is) or discuss the validity of the view, popular among many go-along-to-get-along Christians these days, that masking is somehow the key to “loving your neighbor” (it’s not).


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## GURPS

*If Masks Work, Why Don’t They WORK?*


Except, neither the masks nor the lockdown measures every really stopped COVID-19 in its tracks, did they? Nope, the virus just kept right on virusing, as highly-contagious respiratory viruses are prone to do. You can lock down and delay the inevitable, but as soon as you peek your nose out the virus will be waiting. You can mask up ‘till the cows come home, but even the CDC now admits that, with or without masks, 15 minutes of close contact with an infected person will spread the virus. And given the fact that it has ALWAYS taken 15 minutes of close contact with an infected person to spread the virus, that means masks are generally useless. 

But yes, if what they said was true, if COVID-19 could have been eliminated or even severely curbed with a few weeks of mask-wearing, even I would have happily put up with it. Because, indeed, they would have been right about mask-wearing being a “small inconvenience” if we had a foreseeable future endgame and could see actual results behind the practice. 

No cheating though! Farr’s Law being what it is, the numbers were going to come down anyway when a certain threshold of infectivity was met. Thankfully, with coronavirus, that threshold seems to be somewhere between 15 and 25 percent. New York and New Jersey are prime examples. Anyone who thinks masks somehow did the trick in those places have clearly never heard of herd immunity. Even California’s cases (yes, I know this is a #casedemic, not a pandemic at this point) are on the way down, but the climb toward the July-August peak happened long after masks were mandated statewide in mid-June. If anything, early July should have been the virus’ swan-song in California, but it was just ramping up. Almost anywhere universal masking has been implemented, from Peru to Columbia to Greece to the UK, has been followed by significant case spikes. As a prime example, this graph that shows the trend since the U.K. made face masks mandatory indoors is nothing short of stunning.




*CDC guidelines say wearing a mask during prolonged exposure to coronavirus won't prevent possible infection*

“Wondering what @cdcgov really thinks about masks? Their guidance on quarantining after exposure to someone with #covid explicitly states whether the infected OR exposed person wore masks doesn’t matter,” former _New York Times _reporter Alex Berenson tweeted Sunday.

“My mask protects no one. So does yours. Thanks for clearing that up, CDC!” he added, accompanied by screenshots of the CDC’s guidelines.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

Let's put this to bed right now. This thread is a rundown of the countries with mask mandates and their infections transmissions.


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## GURPS

*Mother and 2-year-old son allegedly booted from Southwest flight after the toddler ate snacks without a mask on*


Jodi Degyansky, 34, and her son, Hayes, were traveling back home to Chicago from Fort Myers after visiting family in Florida when their trip was canceled due to the mask-less snacking, the News-Press reported Sunday.

According to Degyansky, the plane had already left the gate and was taxiing to the runway when it was abruptly ordered to turn around.

Degyansky had removed her son's mask so that the toddler could eat some of the snacks that had been served. When flight attendants confronted her on multiple occasions, she told them that her son would be wearing a mask for the full flight but was currently eating. Then the plane turned around and she was asked to leave.


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## RoseRed

Since when are snacks distributed before the flight leaves the gate?


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## TPD

RoseRed said:


> Since when are snacks distributed before the flight leaves the gate?


I think since the KungFlu came to America. If I recall correctly, which this could be incorrect, On our flight to Atlanta in May, the bag with the snacks and bottle of water were sitting on our seat when we boarded so as to minimize interaction between flight attendants and passengers. At least this makes some sense in my mind even if it didn’t happen this way. Old age sucks!


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## TPD

GURPS said:


>



I was graphing Maryland cases in March, April and May when Fat Larry was putting all the restrictions on us. I saw the same thing - when the mask mandate went into effect, cases continued to rise for weeks.


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## Sneakers

RoseRed said:


> Since when are snacks distributed before the flight leaves the gate?


It does say "that had been served", but it's not uncommon for someone to bring their own food/drink on the flight, and would have it before takeoff.

But that's absurd.  If the attendants served the treats, why would they complain, and especially to that extent, if someone chose to eat it?

Some people just need to be in control, but the pilot went along with it?


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## RoseRed

I've flown Southwest round trip twice recently in June & July.  None of those flights distributed snacks and water until cruising altitude.


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## pontificator

Are we supposed to have sympathy for this dumb broad? If you know you won't be able to keep the mask on your bubble-gum breath varmint, stay off my the plane. There are other ways to get where you're going without inconveniencing others.

Selfish breeders...


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## stgislander

I thought very small children were exempt from these crazy mask rules.


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## RoseRed

stgislander said:


> I thought very small children were exempt from these crazy mask rules.


Not only that, all middle seats are left empty, with the exception of families that want to sit together.


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## pontificator

stgislander said:


> I thought very small children were exempt from these crazy mask rules.



< 2 years old. So 1 year olds only. That's SWA policy; others may differ.









						Travel Preparation and Expectations | Southwest Airlines
					

Learn about how to best prepare for your upcoming travel, and the cleaning procedures Southwest implements to ensure a smooth flight.




					www.southwest.com
				






> *Exemptions to face coverings*
> 
> Young children under the age of 2.


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## Gilligan

stgislander said:


> I thought very small children were exempt from these crazy mask rules.


Pesky acts. petfornicator hates pesky facts.


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## pontificator

^^ somebunny can't read ^^


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## Gilligan

pontificator said:


> ^^ somebunny can't read ^^


'sup sweetie?  Whatcha doin' tonight?


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## TPD

Wait - what is it? 6-8-10-12 weeks. The number keeps going up.

And another thing - you’ve been telling me that me wearing a mask protects you, but now you just said that me wearing a mask protects me more than a vaccine will.  

I’m so confused!!


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## GURPS

*Idaho man arrested for not wearing mask at outdoor worship service: 'Unbelievable'*


A man who was arrested for singing maskless at an outdoor worship service in Moscow, Idaho called the incident "unbelievable" when he spoke out on "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday night.

Gabriel Rench, a Latah County commission candidate, was one of three people arrested Wednesday at a "psalm sing" attended by some 150 people in the Moscow City Hall parking lot. The charge: violating a coronavirus order, according to the local news.

"I did not think I was going to be arrested. I did not think I was going to be cited," Rench said, adding that his church had been organizing the "psalm sings" throughout the shutdown.

"We just started singing the songs and they come up to me and my mom first, and then the guy standing next to me was my friend and I put my arm around him and said, this is my friend, and that's why they proceeded to arrest me," he explained.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

*Florida governor suspends collection of fines for violating local mask rules*



Florida does not have a statewide mask mandate, although many local governments have implemented their own restrictions.

While the governor doesn't plan to preempt local rules regarding masks, he is stepping in when it comes to fines. Speaking Friday in St. Petersburg, Gov. Ron DeSantis said all outstanding fines and penalties that have been applied against individuals for failing to follow local mask rules are suspended.

"I think we need to get away from trying to penalize people for social distancing and just work with people constructively," the governor said.

The announcement came in response to a question about masks. The governor said he hopes the state and local governments can work with people in a way that's more collaborative when it comes to encouraging mask use.


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## GURPS

Cottonwood, Arizona—the town nearest me—settled on a workable compromise. The town has a mask mandate, which carries no enforcement provisions or penalties. Most stores post signs which are respected by the majority of patrons but ignored by a minority. There's a measure of protection for mask-wearers and a measure of independence for mask-refusers. Nobody gets hot and bothered because face masks aren't worth wrestling matches in the produce section.

Logan cops should have remembered that masks don't rate personal combat before they tased an ill-mannered mom over her refusal to wear a cloth covering in uncrowded bleachers under an open sky. There was no reason for that, aside from resentment that anybody could refuse their commands.

Admittedly, Kitts wasn't _officially_ arrested for her mask-resistance; that was just the starting point. "It is important to note, the female was not arrested for failing to wear a mask, she was asked to leave the premises for continually violating school policy," huffs the Logan Police Department. "Once she refused to leave the premises, she was advised she was under arrest for criminal trespassing, she resisted the arrest, which led to the use of force."

But that's always the case. Selling loose cigarettes, or hanging out, or a faulty brake light easily turns into a grab-bag of charges, usually including "resisting arrest." Then we're supposed to believe that the subsequent wrestling, beating, tasing, or shooting are perfectly justified, even though it all started with some minor violation.




*Tasing Moms Who Refuse Masks Does Not Make the World a Healthier Place*


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## TPD

Do as I say not as I do


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## GURPS

TPD said:


> Do as I say not as I do




well atleast PA is being challenged in count and the people are winning


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## GURPS

*BUSTED On Hot Mic: PA Gov. Wolf and Elected Crony Laughing About Masks As 'Political Theater'*


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## Kyle




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## GURPS

*Michigan Supreme Court Rules Whitmer’s Shutdown Order ‘In Violation’ Of State Constitution*


“We conclude that the Governor lacked the authority to declare a ‘state of emergency’ or a ‘state of disaster’ under the EMA after April 30, 2020, on the basis of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the court ruled in a 5-4 decision. “Furthermore, we conclude that the EPGA is in violation of the Constitution of our state because it purports to delegate to the executive branch the legislative powers of state government – including its plenary police powers – and to allow the exercise of such powers indefinitely. As a consequence, the EPGA cannot continue to provide a basis for the Governor to exercise emergency powers.”

Whitmer called the ruling “deeply disappointing” and said that it’s putting Michigan at risk for a resurgence of the coronavirus after “I have done everything in my power to protect our seniors, small businesses, and first responders from the worst public health emergency in over a century.”

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling, handed down by a narrow majority of Republican justices, is deeply disappointing, and I vehemently disagree with the court’s interpretation of the Michigan Constitution,” Whitmer said in a statement. “Right now, every state and the federal government have some form of declared emergency. With this decision, Michigan will become the sole outlier at a time when the Upper Peninsula is experiencing rates of COVID infection not seen in our state since April.”


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## GURPS

*Michigan Governor Vows To Continue Coronavirus Measures Despite State Supreme Court Ruling*


After the ruling, Whitmer released a response saying that she found the ruling “deeply disappointing” and that she would continue to enforce unspecified actions.

“It is important to note that this ruling does not take effect for at least 21 days, and until then, my emergency declaration and orders retain the force of law. Furthermore, after 21 days, many of the responsive measures I have put in place to control the spread of the virus will continue under alternative sources of authority that were not at issue in today’s ruling,” Whitmer said in her statement.

As The Daily Wire previously reported, the ruling is the result of a lawsuit brought by a group of Michigan medical providers and a patient who couldn’t have a knee surgery due to Whitmer’s coronavirus restrictions:


> The owners of Grand Health Partners, Wellston Medical Center, and Primary Health Services, and Jeffery Gulick filed the lawsuit against Whitmer, State Attorney General Dana Nessel, and state health director Robert Gordon on Tuesday. The plaintiffs are pushing the governor to lift her ban on “non-essential” treatments, warning that the ban is endangering the lives of many patients.


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## GURPS

*Do Masks Really Work? Here's What the Charts Tell Us*











In case it isn’t obvious, these charts fail to show any correlation between mask mandates (which presumably increase the wearing of masks) and reductions in COVID-19 infections. If you look at all of the available charts over at Rational Ground, you’ll see there are some instances of infection rates declining after a mask mandate was imposed, but those mandates were put in place after infection rates were already on the decline. For example, this chart showing New York City’s daily new cases of COVID-19.


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## GURPS

*THE CHINESE LOCKDOWN-AND-MASK MODEL FAILED. NOW ITS PROPONENTS NEED SCAPEGOATS*


Democrats claimed that they were superior because they were “listening to the science”. They weren’t listening to the science, which is not an oracle and does not give interviews. Instead, they were obeying a class of officials, some of them whom weren’t even medical professionals, who impressed elected officials and the public with statistical sleight of hand. And little else.

The entire lockdown to testing to reopening pipeline that we adopted wholesale was a typical bureaucratic and corporate exercise, complete with the illusion of metrics and goals, that suffered from all the typical problems of bureaucracy, academia, and corporate culture.

The system that determines reopenings and closings is an echo chamber that measures its own functioning while having little to do with the real world. Testing has become a cargo cult exercise that confuses the map with the world, and the virus with the spreadsheet. It gamifies fighting the pandemic while dragging entire countries into an imaginary world based on its invented rules.

When the media reports a rise or decrease in positive tests, it’s treated as if it’s an assessment of the virus, rather than an incomplete data point that measures its own measurements.

The daily coronavirus reports have become the equivalent of Soviet harvest reports. They sound impressive, mean absolutely nothing, and are the pet obsession of a bureaucracy that not only has no understanding of the problem, but its grip on power has made it the problem.


----------



## GURPS

*Top scientific journals reject 'controversial' Danish study on effectiveness of face masks against coronavirus: Report*

Some of the world's top scientific journals are being accused of suppressing the results of a study aimed at determining the effectiveness of face masks against the spread of the coronavirus.

"They all said no," said Christian Torp-Pedersen, chief physician at North Zealand Hospital’s research department, who was involved in the study. "We cannot start discussing what they are dissatisfied with because, in that case, we must also explain what the study showed, and we do not want to discuss that until it is published."

Danish newspaper _Berlingske_ ran a headline on Thursday reading, “Does a mask work? Top journals refuse to print the Danish answer.”

"Now one of the researchers involved in the study can state that the finished research result has been rejected by at least three of the world's leading medical journals,” the _Berlingske_ article states.

The journals refusing to publish the results reportedly include the_ Lancet_, the_ New England Journal of Medicine,_ and the _Journal of the American Medical Association._
The _Washington Examiner_ reached out to all three journals. Only the _Lancet _responded, saying it does not comment on unpublished studies.


----------



## GURPS

*Now, the CDC says mask wearers get a measurable amount of protection against the virus, saying masks “reduce inhalation” of possible virus-laden droplets.*

“Masks are primarily intended to reduce the emission of virus-laden droplets (‘source control’), which is especially relevant for asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected wearers who feel well and may be unaware of their infectiousness to others, and who are estimated to account for more than 50% of transmissions,” the CDC reported on Tuesday. “Masks also help reduce inhalation of these droplets by the wearer (‘filtration for personal protection’). The community benefit of masking for SARS-CoV-2 control is due to the combination of these effects; individual prevention benefit increases with increasing numbers of people using masks consistently and correctly.”

“Adopting universal masking policies can help avert future lockdowns, especially if combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, hand hygiene, and adequate ventilation,” the CDC said. “The prevention benefit of masking is derived from the combination of source control and personal protection for the mask wearer.”











						CDC Now Says Wearing A Mask DOES Protect You From COVID-19 | The Daily Wire
					






					www.dailywire.com


----------



## Sneakers

GURPS said:


> *Now, the CDC says mask wearers get a measurable amount of protection against the virus, saying masks “reduce inhalation” of possible virus-laden droplets.*
> 
> “Masks are primarily intended to reduce the emission of virus-laden droplets (‘source control’), which is especially relevant for asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected wearers who feel well and may be unaware of their infectiousness to others, and who are estimated to account for more than 50% of transmissions,” the CDC reported on Tuesday. “Masks also help reduce inhalation of these droplets by the wearer (‘filtration for personal protection’). The community benefit of masking for SARS-CoV-2 control is due to the combination of these effects; individual prevention benefit increases with increasing numbers of people using masks consistently and correctly.”
> 
> “Adopting universal masking policies can help avert future lockdowns, especially if combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, hand hygiene, and adequate ventilation,” the CDC said. “The prevention benefit of masking is derived from the combination of source control and personal protection for the mask wearer.”
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CDC Now Says Wearing A Mask DOES Protect You From COVID-19 | The Daily Wire
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.dailywire.com


Heard that this morning.  Just shook my head.


----------



## GURPS

Sneakers said:


> Heard that this morning. Just shook my head.




of course they did ..... everyone thinks Biden is taking over so the winds shift


----------



## TPD

As I've been saying for months - just couldn't understand how a mask only works one way.  Ah yes - now it's a 2-way!


----------



## Sneakers

TPD said:


> As I've been saying for months - just couldn't understand how a mask only works one way.  Ah yes - now it's a 2-way!


It's science.  Try to keep up.


----------



## TPD

Sneakers said:


> It's science.  Try to keep up.



I never did like science.  But I will keep checking back here to stay up with the true facts in all this...


----------



## wharf rat




----------



## GURPS

*Face Masks Are A Religion Now. All Hail The Almighty Mask!*


Masks can’t possibly have ANY negative side effects on health or society, we are told, even as social media giants censor legitimate medical *professionals* who *conduct studies* that suggest otherwise. In their zeal to worship the Almighty Face Mask, zealots *even insist* that high school athletes cover their faces with what soon becomes a wet washcloth while competing outdoors in the rain, their omnipotent power and glory being such that no negative health ramifications will ever occur. Masks are the “best tool” we have to “stop the spread of COVID-19,” our overlords constantly tell a population that is ALREADY well above the 80 percent mask compliance *so-called "experts" once promised* in May it would take to make cases “plummet.”

But cases aren’t "plummeting," now are they? Quite the contrary, they are exploding all over Europe and the U.S., despite the fact that Joe Biden once insisted that if only the Trump administration would have been more like Europe we would have stopped this virus in its tracks, or something. Now, media "geniuses" marvel at how European countries that supposedly "did EVERYTHING right (!!)" are nevertheless slammed with COVID-19 cases, yet not one of them will admit that perhaps "everything right" could just be … WRONG. They aren’t capable of questioning their previous assumptions and beliefs, in no small part because, again, those beliefs have become a religion.

*Consider the puzzlement contained in this Daily Beast article about Italy’s recent spike: “What's particularly troubling about the return of COVID in Italy is that the country has done everything experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci have been advising,” writes Barbie Latza Nadeau. “Face masks in public places have been compulsory for months, social distancing is strongly enforced, nightclubs have never reopened, and sporting arenas are at less than a third of capacity. Children who are back at school are regularly tested and strictly social-distanced, and yet, the second wave seems completely unstoppable.”*

[clip]

Democratic Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, like most of these power-hungry wanna-be dictators, was in the “it’s all your fault” camp for months. Chastising Nevadans for COVID-19 spikes like an angry parent threatening consequences for bad behavior, Sisolak, presumably while firmly wagging his finger, scolded, "I'm not going to come back in two weeks and say I'm going to give you another chance." *His tone was a bit more humble, however, once news broke that he managed to catch the ‘Rona himself: “You can take all the precautions that are possible and you can still contract the virus. I don’t know how I got it."  *


----------



## GURPS

*Americans Across the Nation Are Rising Up Against Draconian Lockdowns*


----------



## GURPS

*New Danish Study Finds Masks Don’t Protect Wearers From COVID Infection*

A newly released study in the academic journal _Annals of Internal Medicine_ casts more doubt on policies that force healthy individuals to wear face coverings in hopes of limiting the spread of COVID-19.

“Researchers in Denmark reported on Wednesday that surgical masks did not protect the wearers against infection with the coronavirus in a large randomized clinical trial,” the _New York Times_ reports.

The study is perhaps the best scientific evidence to date on the efficacy of masks.

To conduct the study, which ran from early April to early June, scientists at the University of Copenhagen recruited more than 6,000 participants who had tested negative for COVID-19 immediately prior to the experiment.

Half the participants were given surgical masks and instructed to wear them outside the home; the other half were instructed to not wear a mask outside the home.

Roughly 4,860 participants finished the experiment, the _Times _reports. The results were not encouraging.

“The researchers had hoped that masks would cut the infection rate by half among wearers. Instead, 42 people in the mask group, or 1.8 percent, got infected, compared with 53 in the unmasked group, or 2.1 percent. The difference was not statistically significant,” the _Times _reports.


----------



## GURPS

Major Study Finds Masks Don’t Reduce COVID-19 Infection Rates 

A high-quality, large-scale Danish study finds no evidence that wearing a face mask significantly minimizes people’s risk of contracting COVID-19. The randomized-control trial found no statistically significant difference in coronavirus infection rates between mask-wearers and non-mask-wearers. In fact, according to the data, mask usage may actually increase the likelihood of infection.

“The recommendation to wear surgical masks to supplement other public health measures did not reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate among wearers by more than 50% in a community with modest infection rates, some degree of social distancing, and uncommon general mask use,” the authors summarized their results.

While mask-wearing has been advertised by health officials all around the world, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Danish researchers found that there was no statistically significant difference between wearing a mask or not in preventing people from contracting COVID-19.

“In the third post hoc analysis, which investigated constellations of patient characteristics, we did not find a subgroup where face masks were effective at conventional levels of statistical significance,” researchers found.

The randomized-control trial, which is considered the “gold-standard” design for scientific research, had a large sample size of more than 6,000 people. Most studies conducted on various kinds of face masks against various coronaviruses are neither randomized, controlled trials nor conducted regarding the specific SARS-CoV-2 virus currently affecting the world.


----------



## stgislander

But what do Danes know... really?


----------



## TPD

Ok so we are back to it being a one way mask only.


----------



## RoseRed

stgislander said:


> But what do Danes know... really?


Will see.  I just messaged my cousin in Copenhagen to see what she has to say.


----------



## GURPS

TPD said:


> Ok so we are back to it being a one way mask only.





well 49 mask wears caught Covid, vs 53 non mask wears 


out of almost 5000 test subjects


----------



## GURPS

*Police Brutally Beat Black Man For Not Wearing A Mask, Welcome To the Dystopia*


----------



## GURPS

*'Virtuous Hypochondria': How One Man Lost A 'Friend' Of 20 Years...*
https://www.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden

I parted ways yesterday with a friend of more than 20 years’ standing over his _sickness_ – and my refusal to indulge it or even pretend to ignore it.
This ex-friend says I should don the Holy Rag because “I might be asymptomatic” and because I ought to “show a little respect for your fellow man” and that “It’s not all about you.” He added: “Grow your own food and you don’t need to interact with people. But if you want the benefits of society _you have to participate and conform a bit_.”

Italics added.

So I said good-bye.

I “have to conform a bit”? I am obliged to literally _show_ that I (supposedly) agree with the outrageous assertion that I might be sick – i.e., “asymptomatic” – and so present an _ongoing, never-ending threat_ to other people that requires me to wear a Face Diaper – the religious vestment of the Sickness Cult – to assuage their fears?


----------



## GURPS

*Sorry, Wearing Masks Is Anything but Harmless. Here are 5 Reasons Why*



_*1. Wearing masks prolongs the amount of time the virus stays around by slowing down its infection rate WITHOUT decreasing the number of people who ultimately have to get it before it fades away.*_

One assumption that most mask advocates (who aren’t being disingenuous) seem to be making is that after some fixed amount of time, like maybe a few months, _voilà,_ the virus will just disappear regardless of how few people wind up catching it.

But that simply isn’t so.

Viruses don’t just lose their power to reproduce after a few months and vanish. It isn’t going away till a certain percentage of us have acquired immunity, either thru infection or the advent of a vaccine. The COVID virus will continue to cause problems until the number of infections reaches whatever its threshold for herd immunity or burnout is.


This same misconception was ubiquitous concerning social distancing. It was only ever supposed to slow down the rate of infection so our hospitals weren’t overrun. Lockdowns were never meant to prevent people from ultimately becoming infected. They were only supposed to make us get sick later rather than sooner.

As Dr. Lisa Maragakis, Senior Director of Infection Prevention at Johns Hopkins Medical School explained, flattening the curve means that “*the same large number of patients *arrived at the hospital at a slower rate. [emphasis mine]”

The same is true for wearing masks. The only reason for healthy young people to engage in either practice is if there’s a danger of running out of medical resources. In the absence of any such danger, all you’re doing is prolonging the amount of time til herd immunity or burnout and, hence, making sure the virus sticks around longer.


----------



## Hijinx

I have nothing against the wearing of masks for people who have a belief that it will save them.
Like seat belts and helmet laws it should be for those who wish to make that choice, it should not be mandatory.


----------



## GURPS

Hijinx said:


> I have nothing against the wearing of masks for people who have a belief that it will save them.
> Like seat belts and helmet laws it should be for those who wish to make that choice, it should not be mandatory.




I don't wear a seat belt, and never wore a helmet on my RM 250


----------



## GURPS

*Everyone is already wearing a mask. They just don’t work.*

The idea that not enough Americans are wearing masks is detached from reality. And we have the data to prove it.

The Delphi group at Carnegie Mellon University has developed a very informative, consistently updated mask compliance tracker. It shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans across the nation are wearing masks. And in virtually every major population center in the United States, especially in areas where COVID-19 cases are rising, mask compliance levels are off the charts high, with most major metro areas registering well over 90 percent compliance.

Early on in the pandemic, when the “new science” told us that masks could stop the virus in its tracks (after the science of early 2020, espoused by the likes of Fauci and many others, rightly pointed to the reality that masks are useless outside of a controlled setting), the CDC and other “public health agencies” claimed that we could essentially eliminate transmission if a large percentage of the population adopted universal masking.

When lockdowns failed to “stop the spread,” masking up at over 80% was hyped as a way to “do more to reduce COVID-19 spread than a strict lockdown.”

“Universal masking at 80 [percent] adoption flattens the curve significantly more than maintaining a strict lockdown," a much-hyped, highly publicized study, which was treated by many in the scientific community as the gospel, proclaimed.

“We will not only be able to flatten the curve, we will be able to significantly reduce the spread of the virus and return to life as normal sooner rather than later,” De Kai, a research scholar at Berkeley who helped develop the COVID-19 universal masking model, proclaimed. 


San Francisco metro area: 97% mask compliance.

New York City metro area: 97% mask compliance.

DC metro: 97%.

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington: 94%.

Philly area: 96%.

Chicago: 95%.

Miami-Ft Lauderdale: 96%.

Seattle: 96%.


----------



## Kyle




----------



## Monello

GURPS said:


> *‘Danielle’ Becomes The New ‘Karen’ After Kroger Store Incident*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A new kind of “Karen” has arrived in town, and she goes by a very different name- Danielle.
> 
> After a woman named Danielle Muscato, a trans civil rights activist who hosts the “RESIST” podcast, took to Twitter to blast a manager at a Louisville Kroger supermarket over an incident regarding another customer and mask-wearing, the name Danielle quickly began to trend on Twitter, with many quickly rising to the manager’s defense and declaring Danielle as the new “Karen.”
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.ibtimes.com/danielle-becomes-new-karen-after-kroger-store-incident-3025036







> *Danielle Muscato here*. I'm a civil rights activist, writer, and transgender woman from St Louis. You may recognize my name as the woman whose "tweet storm" about Donald Trump's SNL tweets went viral four weeks ago. I wrote a follow-up op-ed for Newsweek here.
> 
> *I'm launching a new podcast called #RESIST,* and I'm excited to tell you all about it!





> Danielle Muscato, formerly Dave Muscato, is a civil rights activist, writer, debater, pundit, podcast host, and transgender woman from the United States. Follow her on Twitter @daniellemuscato.



This is what the manager of Kroger's was dealing with.  A professional agitator.


----------



## Hijinx

Kyle said:


> View attachment 153787


How crazy can a man that phucking ugly be to think he is a woman?
How crazy can a head shrinker be to agree with him?


----------



## TPD




----------



## GURPS

*But, But, Masks!??...*

*Much heralded COVID-19 model-student South Korea saw new infections with the virus rise again to more than 1,000 cases per day,* dramatically higher than during the first wave in February and March.

[clip]


_As Statista's Willem Roper notes_, the country has been praised extensively for reducing cases of COVID-19, *but a continuously climbing case count shows how the threat of new outbreaks looms even after flattening the curve (twice before).*

After a second outbreak in August and September was squashed, South Korea had already tightened restrictions again.
The highest number of daily new cases in the initial wave was recorded at 813 on Feb 29.








_You will find more infographics at Statista_

Still, these cases being recorded now are only a sliver of those detected daily in the U.S. and Europe. There, daily new case counts of COVID-19 are still in the tens of thousands... _*so keep wearing your masks!!!*_


----------



## luvmygdaughters

crabcake said:


> Kroger ‘Karen‘


Not enough bleach in the world to clean my eyes.


----------



## GURPS

*New Study Shows Mask Mandates Had Zero Effect in Florida or Nationwide, But the Lie Continues*


Obviously, no amount of evidence, data, trends, facts, studies, or science will ever convince most ‘public health officials’ that masks aren’t doing squat to stop the spread of COVID-19. Cases and deaths continue to spike (yes, many of these are super-sensitive PCR test-driven numbers, but still) despite the fact that well over 90% of the country are complying with their absurd mandates. Yet, predictably, the virus keeps going right on virusing, as highly contagious respiratory viruses, unfortunately, tend to do, especially once cold weather hits. \

Nevertheless, those of us who are mask skeptics have a difficult chore in front of us. Given that most of the country is under a mask mandate of some form or another, we can point to spikes all day AFTER these mandates were put in place only to have our opponents simply say, “Look how bad it would have been WITHOUT masks!”

It’s a tough argument to counter given the fact that our overlords have sold masking as a low-cost, easy “solution” that’s totally worth it even if they “save one life,” or something (nevermind the health risks - let’s censor docs who talk about those!). So, how DO we prove that things wouldn’t have been worse without masks? One way is to look at data from the few free states remaining.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS




----------



## Hijinx

I don't work for the Government so I have no need to be on Federal Property.
His mandate just screwed over Government workers and those contractors who do work there.
Doesn't amount to a hill of beans for anyone else.


----------



## GURPS

it is such a small portion of the population ..... this would have little over all impact 

there less that 6 million federal employes 

this is from 2010





__





						How Many People Does the U.S. Federal Government Employ?
					

The trends of the number of U.S. Federal Government employees over the past half-century are surprising.




					historyinpieces.com


----------



## GURPS

*CDC Order Requiring Masks For Travelers To Begin Monday Night*



New orders from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will require members of the public to wear face masks while riding on public transportation and while in transportation hubs around the country beginning shortly before midnight on Monday.

“Requiring masks on our transportation systems will protect Americans and provide confidence that we can once again travel safely even during the pandemic,” reads the 11-page order issued on Friday and signed by Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the division of global migration and quarantine at the CDC. “Therefore, requiring masks will help us control this pandemic and aid in re-opening America’s economy.”

[clip]

The CDC’s order takes an even stronger stance than Biden did earlier this month when he signed an executive order requiring travelers to wear face masks. Before that order was signed, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain had circulated a memo saying Biden planned to mandate masks while on federal property *and when traveling between states*, reported The Associated Press.


By what Authority ?



*The CDC Has Less Power Than You Think, and Likes it That Way*

Imposing a quarantine—effectively stripping innocent people of the most basic right to move freely in the world—is one of the most serious actions a government can take against its own citizenry. Partly for this reason, in the American federal system (designed from the outset to check the power of the national government) the power to quarantine resides largely with state and local authorities. Should Texas, or any other state, someday face the threat of a true epidemic, the states have broad authority to restrict the movement of people within their own borders. Public health codes granting the state power to impose quarantine orders vary from state to state, of course. Violating a quarantine order in Louisiana is punishable by a fine of up to $100 and up to a year in prison; in Mississippi the same infraction could cost a violator up to $5000 and up to five years in prison.

The federal government does have its own powers. The CDC, as the U.S.’s primary agency for taking action to stop the spread of disease, has broad authority under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution to restrict travel into the country and between states of an infected person or a person who has come in contact with an infected person, according to Laura Donohue, director of the Center on National Security and the Law at Georgetown Law School. Federal quarantine can be imposed, too, on federal property, like a military base or National Forest land. And as the preeminent employer of experts on public health crises, the CDC is always likely to get involved within any affected state in the event of a looming pandemic.

But its power to act is extremely restricted. The agency traditionally acts in an advisory role and can only take control from local authorities under two circumstances: if local authorities invite them to do so or under the authority outlined in the Insurrection Act in the event of a total breakdown of law and order.


*Exactly How Much Authority Does The CDC Have Over The American People?*


The CDC’s order seeks to prevent that crisis by prohibiting landlords from kicking out tenants solely because they can no longer afford to pay rent. The ban covers any renter who expects to make less than $99,000 this year who seeks federal housing aid, would fall into homelessness if evicted, and is attempting to pay rent. The same protections apply to joint-filing couples that expect to make less than $198,000.

Benfer said that without the ban, “we would have widespread homelessness, we would have increased contraction of COVID-19, we would have all of the harms that come with eviction.”

While the ban could be a crucial lifeline for struggling renters, experts say its legal basis rests on a broad interpretation of a 1944 law. The regulation cited by the CDC gives it power to take whatever action it deems necessary to stop the interstate transmission of an infectious disease.

The logic behind the order is that if a renter is evicted and forced to move in with someone beyond state lines, it could further spread COVID-19.

“This does not appear to have been hastily put together,” Wiley said. “It’s clearly written by someone who knows the ins and outs of CDC authority and is interested in pushing the boundaries of it, but in a way that is as defensible as possible in court.”


----------



## GURPS

*Former Biden Transition Advisor Says Double-Masking 'Can Do More Harm'*

While Dr. Fauci is now telling Americans to double-mask for more protection, Michael Osterholm, a top infectious disease expert who was an advisor to Joe Biden’s transition team, warns that double-masking can actually do more harm if one of the masks isn’t being worn correctly.

When masks have an “already compromised fit or filtration capacity, … if you add on another mask, you may actually make it tougher for the air to move through the two-cloth area, and then at that point it causes more air to actually leak around the sides, which actually enhances your ability to get infected,” Osterholm told NBC’s Chuck Todd on _Meet the Press_ Sunday.













						Former Biden Transition Advisor Says Double-Masking 'Can Do More Harm'
					

While Dr. Fauci is now telling Americans to double-mask for more protection, Michael Osterholm, a top infectious disease expert who was an advisor to Joe Biden’s transition team, warns that double-mas...




					pjmedia.com


----------



## GURPS

*The CDC Is Not the Nation’s Housing Regulator*


Now, there’s no question that the executive branch has broad authority to control outbreaks. But that power cannot be _so_ broad that it swallows every limit on the president’s power — which would raise constitutional issues by itself — and uses of this power must at minimum come with a justification that passes the laugh test. A nationwide eviction moratorium to prevent the interstate spread of disease, at a time when the country is generally open for business and the CDC itself (rightly) supports school reopenings, is patently absurd.

Further, the language of the relevant laws and regulations makes it clear that the authority granted is intended for targeted efforts to stop the spread of infection. After the passage I quoted above, the statute says that “the Surgeon General may provide for such inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, pest extermination, destruction of animals or articles found to be so infected or contaminated as to be sources of dangerous infection to human beings, and other measures, as in his judgment may be necessary.” Similarly, the CFR allows the CDC director to “take such measures to prevent such spread of the diseases as he/she deems reasonably necessary, including inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, pest extermination, and destruction of animals or articles believed to be sources of infection.”

As the law professor Ilya Somin has noted, “_Esjudem generis_, a standard canon of legal interpretation, requires that a list of items in a law should be interpreted as being ‘of the same kind’ as others on list. Here, everything on the list seems to be relatively limited in scope. Thus, the regulation only permits narrowly targeted, localized restrictions.”



breaking the law to suit their own needs


----------



## PeoplesElbow

Since this started out with Kroger I thought I'd post this about an outbreak at a Kroger store





__





						Redirect Notice
					





					www.google.com


----------



## GURPS

*Top Infectious Disease Expert Says Double Masking ‘Actually Enhances Your Ability To Get Infected’*

“When we talk about double masking, remember what we’re really talking about is just trying to prevent the virus from being excreted by me into the air or me inhaling the virus from someone else in the air, and it’s both a function of face fit and face filtration,” Osterholm said.

Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said “think about your swim goggles. When’s the last time anybody leaked at the lenses? They leak at the fit.”

“So, what we’re concerned about is that many of these face cloth coverings do have already compromised fit or filtration capacity,” he said. “If you add on another mask, you may actually make it tougher for the air to move through the two-cloth area, and then at that point, it causes more air to actually leak around the sides, which actually enhances your ability to get infected.”


----------



## Kyle

What about double-bagging?


----------



## kom526

Kyle said:


> What about double-bagging?


Just don't give her your number.


----------



## GURPS

*Fauci Concedes 'There’s No Data That Indicates' Double-Masking Is Effective*


A week earlier, the _New York Times_ had called the practice of double-masking a new “fashion trend” and a “sensible” and “easy way” to reduce your risk of catching COVID-19, but Fauci’s remarks really set off an intense public debate over whether Americans should start double-masking, after being told for nearly year that wearing a single mask and social distancing was adequate, which also came after Fauci told the American people in March 2020, “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.”

If you’re getting confused, you’re not alone, because a mere five days after saying that double-masking was “common sense,” Fauci seemed to walk back that statement.

“There are many people who feel, you know if you really wanna have an extra little bit of protection ‘maybe I should put two masks on.’ There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s no data that indicates that that is going to make a difference. and that’s the reason why the CDC has not changed their recommendations.”





How does he go from saying double-masking is “common sense” to “there’s no data that indicates that that is going to make a difference” in five days? Shouldn’t we expect more from the highest-paid employee of the federal government? If Faucii admits there’s no data to support that double-masking will actually make a difference, why make the public believe they should be doing it in the first place? It was bad enough when the_ New York Times_ was quite literally fawning over the practice, but how many people bought into the practice because Dr. Fauci said it was common sense, despite the lack of data proving it?


----------



## Sneakers

He is a putz and should have have his doctorate rescinded.


----------



## herb749

1st he said we didn't need masks, then we did. Now he's saying double up.

Once the Spring comes and they feel there have been enough vaccinations, Biden's people will quietly retire him. Once he goes against the boss he's done.


----------



## Hijinx

GURPS said:


> *Fauci Concedes 'There’s No Data That Indicates' Double-Masking Is Effective*
> 
> 
> A week earlier, the _New York Times_ had called the practice of double-masking a new “fashion trend” and a “sensible” and “easy way” to reduce your risk of catching COVID-19, but Fauci’s remarks really set off an intense public debate over whether Americans should start double-masking, after being told for nearly year that wearing a single mask and social distancing was adequate, which also came after Fauci told the American people in March 2020, “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.”
> 
> If you’re getting confused, you’re not alone, because a mere five days after saying that double-masking was “common sense,” Fauci seemed to walk back that statement.
> 
> “There are many people who feel, you know if you really wanna have an extra little bit of protection ‘maybe I should put two masks on.’ There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s no data that indicates that that is going to make a difference. and that’s the reason why the CDC has not changed their recommendations.”
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How does he go from saying double-masking is “common sense” to “there’s no data that indicates that that is going to make a difference” in five days? Shouldn’t we expect more from the highest-paid employee of the federal government? If Faucii admits there’s no data to support that double-masking will actually make a difference, why make the public believe they should be doing it in the first place? It was bad enough when the_ New York Times_ was quite literally fawning over the practice, but how many people bought into the practice because Dr. Fauci said it was common sense, despite the lack of data proving it?




He has no idea what the hell he is talking about.
Which makes him a perfect fit for the Biden Administration.


----------



## Kyle

MI Voter Facing Life in Prison for Licking Ballot Envelope Has Charge Dismissed
					

A Michigan voter who allegedly licked his ballot envelope has had the charge dropped by a prosecutor.




					www.breitbart.com


----------



## Hijinx

A pretty stupid thing to do, but LIFE.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*White House Press Secretary: ‘Even After You’re Vaccinated, Social Distancing, Wearing Masks Are Going to Be Essential’* 



“….Even after you’re vaccinated, social distancing, wearing masks are going to be essential. We’ll need to keep communicating about that through health and medical experts,” she said in her reply.

Alexander followed up, saying, “What do you say to those folks….who say they don’t believe that 450,000 Americans have died of coronavirus. At the end of today, we need everybody on board to beat this virus. What do you tell them?”

“We know statistically,” Psaki said, “…that if Americans wore a mask for 100 days, 50,000 lives would be saved. We know it’s not going to be overnight, but we’re going to continue to communicate about it in a non-political way and a factual way so that Americans can take steps to save themselves.”


----------



## easyliving45

GURPS said:


> View attachment 154997




Why are you so scared of a piece of cloth?

If you use a condom why take birth control too?


----------



## GURPS

easyliving45 said:


> Why are you so scared of a piece of cloth?





Fascist


----------



## TPD

easyliving45 said:


> Why are you so scared of a piece of cloth?
> 
> If you use a condom why take birth control too?


If I'm taking birth control, then I'm not the one also wearing the condom.  Unless I'm a trans dem.

The more appropriate comparison is if I have a vasectomy then I don't have to wear a condom.  But yet if I get the 'rona vaccine I STILL have to wear the mask!


----------



## Kyle

easyliving45 said:


> Why are you so scared of a piece of cloth?



Why are you so terrified of life?


----------



## TPD

GURPS said:


> View attachment 154997


I had a meeting with attorneys and hd officials yesterday - wish I had seen this before that meeting in order to give to them or even hang up in the store.


----------



## GURPS

*Tampa Mayor's Hypocrisy Brought Up After She Said Police Will 'Identify' Maskless Super Bowl Fans*


----------



## stgislander

Nice dress.


----------



## GURPS

*Ron DeSantis Goes Beast Mode on Reporter Who Asks About Maskless Super Bowl Partiers*


DeSantis was asked by a reporter today about the postgame celebrants who were crowding the streets and weren’t wearing masks. What followed was the Florida governor going beast mode:



> During a question and answer period following his press conference in Venice Wednesday, DeSantis was asked if the large crowds celebrating the Bucs victory worried him, considering reports of a new variant of the virus spreading in Florida.
> 
> DeSantis suggested the reporter only cared because it fits a narrative.
> 
> “The media is worried about that, obviously,” he said. “You don’t care as much if it’s a ‘peaceful protest,’ then it’s fine. You don’t care as much if they’re celebrating a Biden election. You only care about it if it’s people you don’t like. I’m a Bucs fan. I’m damn proud of what they did.”




The Usual Suspects on the Twitter machine declared his answer was “offensive”, “out of touch” and supposedly proved their point about how he didn’t care whether Floridians lived or died, but they are, as usual, missing the point.

Gov. DeSantis is simply – and understandably – fed up with the double standards the media have when it comes to people taking to the streets during the pandemic. If people are going to have an anti-police protest or celebrate a Democratic election victory, that’s fine to the media and few to no concerns will be raised. But if it’s something else, like a Republican political rally or a Super Bowl victory celebration, then it’s time to play the Karen card and hit the Code Red button.


----------



## Hijinx

If Faucci has his way babies should be born wearing masks.
Two of them.

Will we ever be rid of this irritable man.


----------



## GURPS

*President Biden says face masks could be required 'through the next year'*


Biden said that he "had a little discussion with my friends behind me, Dr. Collins and Dr. Fauci, about whether or not I should take my mask off...although we're more than 10 feet away, I think it's important that I not. It's critically important...you know that wearing this mask through the next year here can save lives—a significant numbers of lives."

He continued by praising his own mask mandate and mentioning his push for US governors, mayors and local officials to adapt the same models in their states: "We need everyone to do their part for themselves, their loved ones, and yes, for their country. Mask up, America. Mask up."

A key component of Biden's plan to put an end to the pandemic was to tell Americans to wear face masks for the first 100 days of his presidency.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*Anthony Fauci Says Americans Might Still Need To Wear Masks in 2022*


"I want [COVID-19 cases] to keep going down to a baseline that's so low there is virtually no threat," said Fauci. "If you combine getting most of the people in the country vaccinated with getting the level of virus in the community very, very low, then I believe you're going to be able to say, for the most part, we don't necessarily have to wear masks."

Fauci expressed cautious optimism that the country "will be approaching a significant degree of normality" by the end of this year. When pressed by Bash to define what he meant by "normality," the doctor demurred.

"I can't say that, Dana," said Fauci. "Because then it will be a sound bite that's not true. I'm saying: We don't know."

​Fauci has admitted that he has previously avoided telling people the plain truth about how long it would take to reach herd immunity because he thought the public wasn't ready to hear it; thus it's not always totally clear whether the doctor's pronouncements reflect genuine uncertainty, public messaging considerations, or a mixture of both.


----------



## Grumpy

No matter what happens with this current shutdown, the precedent has been set and will be used in the future.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> Why are you so scared of a piece of cloth?



It's not the cloth that seems to scare people.  It's the overreach of government.

For example, I wear a seatbelt by choice.  The government has no right to tell me whether to wear one or not, but I choose to.

The same is true for masks.


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> It's not the cloth that seems to scare people.  It's the overreach of government.
> 
> For example, I wear a seatbelt by choice.  The government has no right to tell me whether to wear one or not, but I choose to.
> 
> The same is true for masks.




Except most states you can be fined for not wearing a seatbelt just like you can be in some places for not wearing a mask.

Imagine wanting to die more than wanting to wear a tiny piece of fabric around your waist or mouth.  

Some people are truly too dumb to survive.   You would have been eating by a saber tooth tiger as a child.


----------



## Gilligan

easyliving45 said:


> Imagine wanting to die



We can hope.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> Except most states you can be fined for not wearing a seatbelt just like you can be in some places for not wearing a mask.
> 
> Imagine wanting to die more than wanting to wear a tiny piece of fabric around your waist or mouth.
> 
> Some people are truly too dumb to survive.   You would have been eating by a saber tooth tiger as a child.


Did you not see the post I made?  I specifically said I wear a seatbelt.  It's not the seatbelt that is the problem.  It is the overreach of government.

Same for the mask.

I'd love to see the mask law that authorizes a fine.  To the best of my knowledge, none exist.


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> Did you not see the post I made?  I specifically said I wear a seatbelt.  It's not the seatbelt that is the problem.  It is the overreach of government.
> 
> Same for the mask.
> 
> I'd love to see the mask law that authorizes a fine.  To the best of my knowledge, none exist.




Numerous counties and states have enacted laws that include fines for not wearing masks.

Please educate yourself.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> Numerous counties and states have enacted laws that include fines for not wearing masks.
> 
> Please educate yourself.


Show me.

When you do, I"ll show you an overreach of government - the exact problem.  "Laws", not "regulations".


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> Show me.
> 
> When you do, I"ll show you an overreach of government - the exact problem.  "Laws", not "regulations".




So you are already making excuses.

God you're pathetic.  

Do you deny people can be fined for not wearing their seatbelts?  You can be ejected and kill the other driver or another passenger.  Just like by not wearing a mask you put others in danger.

Why are you so selfish and that you only think about yourself in every scenario?


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> So you are already making excuses.
> 
> God you're pathetic.
> 
> Do you deny people can be fined for not wearing their seatbelts?  You can be ejected and kill the other driver or another passenger.  Just like by not wearing a mask you put others in danger.
> 
> Why are you so selfish and that you only think about yourself in every scenario?


I make no excuses.  I said I know of none, and I know of none.  Show me.

If/when you do, I'll show you government overreach, just like seatbelt laws.  I fully believe there are seatbelt laws, and I know they are government overreach.  The only person one is likely to injure by not wearing on is oneself.  

I do not challenge anyone else's safety if I am not wearing a mask, because I do not have Covid.  If I do not have Covid, I have no need to wear a mask.


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> I make no excuses.  I said I know of none, and I know of none.  Show me.
> 
> If/when you do, I'll show you government overreach, just like seatbelt laws.  I fully believe there are seatbelt laws, and I know they are government overreach.  The only person one is likely to injure by not wearing on is oneself.
> 
> I do not challenge anyone else's safety if I am not wearing a mask, because I do not have Covid.  If I do not have Covid, I have no need to wear a mask.




The thing is you don't know if you have covid unless you were tested daily or you are completely quarantined.  You can be a symptomatic.

You think every person infected with Covid has breathed directly from the mouth of someone they knew was infected?

Are you really that ignorant?

I beg you please educate yourself and stop only thinking off yourself in every scenario.  

Why would anyone bother to try to educate you with links and examples if you've already dismissed them as over reach?


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> The thing is you don't know if you have covid unless you were tested daily or you are completely quarantined.  You can be a symptomatic.


Actually, this is demonstrably false.  The WHO changed its guidelines because of an overwhelming number of false positives to show that one needs to have both two positive tests AND symptoms to be a confirmed case of Covid.


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> Actually, this is demonstrably false.  The WHO changed its guidelines because of an overwhelming number of false positives to show that one needs to have both two positive tests AND symptoms to be a confirmed case of Covid.




God you are stupid.   

There is a difference between a confirmed case for the WHO and being contagious if you visit your elderly parents but keep lying to yourself.

feel free to not wear a seat belt, have the airbags in your car taken out too.  Ignore speed limits and drive drunk.

You obviously are too selfish to live in society.


----------



## PrchJrkr

I would never eat by a sabretoothed tiger. They have atrocious table manners.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> God you are stupid.
> 
> There is a difference between a confirmed case for the WHO and being contagious if you visit your elderly parents but keep lying to yourself.
> 
> feel free to not wear a seat belt, have the airbags in your car taken out too.  Ignore speed limits and drive drunk.
> 
> You obviously are too selfish to live in society.


I have no problem with speed limits (seems like the folks telling us how good our cars have to be, how much weight we can have on the road, what conditions our roads are allowed to be in, and what it takes to legally drive on a road could also determine how fast we - the folks with the license - can drive our cars - that they mandate meet certain criteria - can drive on roads that they make sure meet standards for everything else) or drunk driving laws - because violating those things has a demonstrable impact on other people's lives.

I've said I wear a seat belt, that the seat belt is not the issue.  Not sure why you can't get that.

Unless I am demonstrably a risk, I am not a risk.  I do not meet the criteria for having Covid, therefore I do not have Covid.  You can say I'm a risk, but every human alive is a risk to every other human with whom they have contact every day.  Everyone is at risk from everyone else if they live near a road, because people could violate laws and crash into their houses.  People are at risk of planes falling on them (as we just saw a couple of days ago).  People are at risk of getting the flu from someone else.  You're at risk of getting pink eye every time you touch a surface you have not immediately cleaned before touching.  You are at risk of being stabbed by a madwoman running through a grocery store.

I'm not a threat until I'm a threat.  Existing when there is a virus with a 98.2% survival rate.  Currently, there are less than 100,000 cases.  That means I have a .012*.0003 chance of dying from Covid.  Less, since I am under 60, and the probability of dying drastically increases with age.

That makes me not a risk.


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> I have no problem with speed limits (seems like the folks telling us how good our cars have to be, how much weight we can have on the road, what conditions our roads are allowed to be in, and what it takes to legally drive on a road could also determine how fast we - the folks with the license - can drive our cars - that they mandate meet certain criteria - can drive on roads that they make sure meet standards for everything else) or drunk driving laws - because violating those things has a demonstrable impact on other people's lives.
> 
> *As does walking around possibly infectious and not wearing a mask.  As does driving aroud without a seat belt.  You put others at risk in both cases.*
> 
> I've said I wear a seat belt, that the seat belt is not the issue.  Not sure why you can't get that.
> 
> Unless I am demonstrably a risk, I am not a risk.  I do not meet the criteria for having Covid, therefore I do not have Covid.  You can say I'm a risk, but every human alive is a risk to every other human with whom they have contact every day.  Everyone is at risk from everyone else if they live near a road, because people could violate laws and crash into their houses.  People are at risk of planes falling on them (as we just saw a couple of days ago).  People are at risk of getting the flu from someone else.  You're at risk of getting pink eye every time you touch a surface you have not immediately cleaned before touching.  You are at risk of being stabbed by a madwoman running through a grocery store.
> 
> *Of course they are but a plane falling from the sky is not a risk you can reduce or plan for by wearing a mask as Covid is.
> 
> I guess you've never heard of hand washing either?*
> 
> 
> I'm not a threat until I'm a threat.  Existing when there is a virus with a 98.2% survival rate.  Currently, there are less than 100,000 cases.  That means I have a .012*.0003 chance of dying from Covid.  Less, since I am under 60, and the probability of dying drastically increases with age.
> 
> *So you are ok with 1.80 percent of the population ( 3.5 million people+ ) dying because you cant be bothered to wear a tiny piece of cloth?  What happened to life being precious and every abortion being a sin?  Thats 4 times as many abortions as occur yearly in the US.
> 
> Do you even listen to yourself as you spout this hypocrisy?*
> 
> That makes me not a risk.




I honestly don't know how you sleep at night.

Today alone you've explained away the death of a police officer and 500,000 Americans.  

Sick


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> I honestly don't know how you sleep at night.



Naked, next to an incredibly attractive, loving wife.



> Today alone you've explained away the death of a police officer and 500,000 Americans.
> 
> Sick


Yet, I did neither of those things.

Last I checked, they estimated up to 2,200,000 people would have died from Covid without intervention.  That would have been by last summer.  So, what you've described is that the Trump administration's rapid response saved at least 1,700,000 people.

But, I'm quite certain that some people would have died no matter what.  Your claim that 500,000 Americans died from Trump's actions or inactions belie the basic notion that people were going to die no matter who was in office.  So, that makes the claim patently stupid.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> I honestly don't know how you sleep at night.
> 
> Today alone you've explained away the death of a police officer and 500,000 Americans.
> 
> Sick


By the way, I'm possibly infectious for the flu, too.  Do I need to quarantine?  I could have measles.  I could have pneumonia.  I could have West Nile.  I could have AIDS.  I could have Q-fever, or Reiter Syndrome.  There's no way for you to know.  And, I could give those to you long before 2019's virus from Wuhan China.  Even if it is the UK variant, or the South African variant.

What I don't have is any reason to believe I have any of those things.  And, you have no reason to believe I have any of those things.  And, the government has no reason to believe I have any of those things.  Therefore, I am not a risk.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> *So you are ok with 1.80 percent of the population ( 3.5 million people+ ) dying because you cant be bothered to wear a tiny piece of cloth? *


It's not 1.8% of the population.  It's 1.8% of the 0.03% that get the infection.

Oh, and I was a big proponent of washing hands long before Covid.  Was this a new thing for you, now that the media says you should do it?


----------



## GURPS

easyliving45 said:


> and 500,000 Americans.




Hey Dumb Ass ......  500,000 *Additional* American's did not die in 2020 vs the death count in 2019  *because* of Covid or *from* Covid

They died from Heart Attacks, High Blood Pressure, Cancer  ... and the other illnesses that kill people .... the Gov has been lying to keep you scared ... counting a death as a Covid death of you had Covid in the preceeding weeks even COUNTING Gun Shot Victims as Covid Deaths

In Fact Heart Attacks killed 661,000 and Cancer killed 580,000 .... 








*After retrieving data on the CDC website, Briand compiled a graph representing percentages of total deaths per age category from early February to early September, which includes the period from before COVID-19 was detected in the U.S. to after infection rates soared.

Surprisingly, the deaths of older people stayed the same before and after COVID-19. Since COVID-19 mainly affects the elderly, experts expected an increase in the percentage of deaths in older age groups. However, this increase is not seen from the CDC data. In fact, the percentages of deaths among all age groups remain relatively the same…*


Total deaths in 2020 (as of November) for all types of mortality causes totaled 2.5 million, whereas, in 2018 and 2019, they were 2.8 million and 2.9 million respectively. There is no massive spike that had happened and there is no reason to shut down the economy.









						More Evidence Shows Total Deaths in 2020 Are No Different Than Prior Years
					

This year will go down in history as a year to be remembered for many reasons, one of them being the coronavirus that has ravaged our country. If you listen to the media, this virus has added hundreds of thousands of excess deaths this year that otherwise would have been alive. But in reality...




					steadfastclash.com


----------



## herb749

GURPS said:


> Hey Dumb Ass ......  500,000 *Additional* American's did not die in 2020 vs the death count in 2019  *because* of Covid or *from* Covid
> 
> They died from Heart Attacks, High Blood Pressure, Cancer  ... and the other illnesses that kill people .... the Gov has been lying to keep you scared ... counting a death as a Covid death of you had Covid in the preceeding weeks even COUNTING Gun Shot Victims as Covid Deaths
> 
> In Fact Heart Attacks killed 661,000 and Cancer killed 580,000 ....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *After retrieving data on the CDC website, Briand compiled a graph representing percentages of total deaths per age category from early February to early September, which includes the period from before COVID-19 was detected in the U.S. to after infection rates soared.
> 
> Surprisingly, the deaths of older people stayed the same before and after COVID-19. Since COVID-19 mainly affects the elderly, experts expected an increase in the percentage of deaths in older age groups. However, this increase is not seen from the CDC data. In fact, the percentages of deaths among all age groups remain relatively the same…*
> 
> 
> Total deaths in 2020 (as of November) for all types of mortality causes totaled 2.5 million, whereas, in 2018 and 2019, they were 2.8 million and 2.9 million respectively. There is no massive spike that had happened and there is no reason to shut down the economy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> More Evidence Shows Total Deaths in 2020 Are No Different Than Prior Years
> 
> 
> This year will go down in history as a year to be remembered for many reasons, one of them being the coronavirus that has ravaged our country. If you listen to the media, this virus has added hundreds of thousands of excess deaths this year that otherwise would have been alive. But in reality...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> steadfastclash.com





If its showed those 661,000 & 580,000 are less than previous years we'll know calling every death covid is bogus.


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> Naked, next to an incredibly attractive, loving wife.
> 
> 
> Yet, I did neither of those things.
> 
> Last I checked, they estimated up to 2,200,000 people would have died from Covid without intervention.  That would have been by last summer.  So, what you've described is that the Trump administration's rapid response saved at least 1,700,000 people.
> 
> But, I'm quite certain that some people would have died no matter what.  Your claim that 500,000 Americans died from Trump's actions or inactions belie the basic notion that people were going to die no matter who was in office.  So, that makes the claim patently stupid.




Trump said it would disappear overnight like magic and that people shouldn't wear masks.

That is not swift action. 

That is neglect which led to weeks of unchecked spread.  

Stop defending a man who couldn't  care and less whether you live or die.   

Again, why is one abortion too much for you yet 500,000 american deaths are something to be dismissed?


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> By the way, I'm possibly infectious for the flu, too.  Do I need to quarantine?  I could have measles.  I could have pneumonia.  I could have West Nile.  I could have AIDS.  I could have Q-fever, or Reiter Syndrome.  There's no way for you to know.  And, I could give those to you long before 2019's virus from Wuhan China.  Even if it is the UK variant, or the South African variant.
> 
> What I don't have is any reason to believe I have any of those things.  And, you have no reason to believe I have any of those things.  And, the government has no reason to believe I have any of those things.  Therefore, I am not a risk.




You should be inoculated against many of those, you cant pass AIDS through breathing.

Your analogies are getting worse everytime you make one.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> Trump said it would disappear overnight like magic and that people shouldn't wear masks.
> 
> That is not swift action.
> 
> That is neglect which led to weeks of unchecked spread.
> 
> Stop defending a man who couldn't  care and less whether you live or die.
> 
> Again, why is one abortion too much for you yet 500,000 american deaths are something to be dismissed?


He did much more than that, and 1.7M people are still alive.  Apparently as a result of what he did, since they predicted 2.2M dead if he didn't do stuff.

Abortion directly, intentionally kills an innocent human being by another human being.  You are comparing apples and lug nuts.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> You should be inoculated against many of those, you cant pass AIDS through breathing.
> 
> Your analogies are getting worse everytime you make one.


Why didn't we have to wear a mask to stop tens of thousand of people a year from dying from the flu?


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> He did much more than that, and 1.7M people are still alive.  Apparently as a result of what he did, since they predicted 2.2M dead if he didn't do stuff.
> 
> Abortion directly, intentionally kills an innocent human being by another human being.  You are comparing apples and lug nuts.



Trumps inaction was deliberate.  He knew how serious it was and spoke openly about it in private saying it  was deadly and saying he wanted to downplay that.  

That directly got additional people killed.  


So by your logic we should just provide everyone with free birth control right?

Problem solved?


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> Trumps inaction was deliberate.  He knew how serious it was and spoke openly about it in private saying it  was deadly and saying he wanted to downplay that.
> 
> That directly got additional people killed.
> 
> 
> So by your logic we should just provide everyone with free birth control right?
> 
> Problem solved?


If he downplayed it, wouldn't that have led to the 2.2M anticipated to die?  How many additional people died (not were killed), and how do you estimate that number?

No, no one should receive anything "free".  If they want it they should buy it.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> Trumps inaction was deliberate.  He knew how serious it was and spoke openly about it in private saying it  was deadly and saying he wanted to downplay that.
> 
> That directly got additional people killed.
> 
> 
> So by your logic we should just provide everyone with free birth control right?
> 
> Problem solved?


Why didn't we have to wear masks to stop tens of thousands of people dying of the flu every year?


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> If he downplayed it, wouldn't that have led to the 2.2M anticipated to die?  How many additional people died (not were killed), and how do you estimate that number?
> 
> No, no one should receive anything "free".  If they want it they should buy it.




I think you are a bot programmed to argue the very stupidest of ideas.   

You cant even remain consistent from one post to the next.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> I think you are a bot programmed to argue the very stupidest of ideas.
> 
> You cant even remain consistent from one post to the next.


To be fair, I actually am arguing against the very stupidest (irony alert) of ideas - yours.

That said, my point is that 2.2M people were supposed to die by estimate, and that was by last summer.  500,000 have died in a full year.  Seems something was done right, or more would have died by estimate.

You claimed more died than should have.  I'm asking for the peer reviewed estimate of that, like the peer-reviewed 2.2M estimate provided January of 2020 for how many would die.

If you don't have it, and you're just making feces up, that's fine.  Just own it.

By the way, why didn't we have to wear masks to stop tens of thousand of people from "being killed" by the flu every year?


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> Why didn't we have to wear masks to stop tens of thousands of people dying of the flu every year?




Apparently you've never been to any asian countries.

They do.

And they don't cry about it.

it is seen as a sign of respect to those around them.  If they think they are sick they wear masks to protect others.  

sad that the concept of protecting others is seen as a personal affront and taking away your rights.


----------



## Gilligan

easyliving45 said:


> Apparently you've never been to any asian countries.
> 
> They do.
> 
> And they don't cry about it.



And they also do not even glance twice at all of us over there not wearing masks. It's entirely a matter of personal preference.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> Apparently you've never been to any asian countries.
> 
> They do.
> 
> And they don't cry about it.
> 
> it is seen as a sign of respect to those around them.  If they think they are sick they wear masks to protect others.
> 
> sad that the concept of protecting others is seen as a personal affront and taking away your rights.


you apparently haven't been to any muslim countries.  They need to hide their women so they don't rape them, and if their daughters disgrace them in any way they kill them.

But, I'm not talking about Asian or Muslim countries.  I'm talking about the United States.  Before Covid, why was it not considered a sign of respect and protection to wear masks - at least during flu season (if not all year, because the flu is always around) - to wear masks?  Did YOU show respect like that?  Did you feel the 100% of us who were not were trying to kill Granny?  Did the government feel the need to mandate it - even without legislation like now?

Or, is this just a great big pile of horse feces, and you just haven't realized that yet?


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> you apparently haven't been to any muslim countries.  They need to hide their women so they don't rape them, and if their daughters disgrace them in any way they kill them.
> 
> But, I'm not talking about Asian or Muslim countries.  I'm talking about the United States.  Before Covid, why was it not considered a sign of respect and protection to wear masks - at least during flu season (if not all year, because the flu is always around) - to wear masks?  Did YOU show respect like that?  Did you feel the 100% of us who were not were trying to kill Granny?  Did the government feel the need to mandate it - even without legislation like now?
> 
> Or, is this just a great big pile of horse feces, and you just haven't realized that yet?




Because many Americans like you are selfish and only think of themselves.   Asian countries put a huge premium on protecting their elders and think of themselves in a much more society focused way over individual needs.


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> Because many Americans like you are selfish and only think of themselves.   Asian countries put a huge premium on protecting their elders and think of themselves in a much more society focused way over individual needs.


So, if we go back to the concept being governmental overreach and not the masks, why was it not proper for the government to order us to reduce all risks to near zero for the flu?  Are you telling me that in 8 years of being president, President Obama was just a selfish prick who did not care for the American people, and is directly responsible for 276,473 deaths over the course of his presidency?

Shocking.


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> So, if we go back to the concept being governmental overreach and not the masks, why was it not proper for the government to order us to reduce all risks to near zero for the flu?  Are you telling me that in 8 years of being president, President Obama was just a selfish prick who did not care for the American people, and is directly responsible for 276,473 deaths over the course of his presidency?
> 
> Shocking.




Again.  Please stop making stupid analogies that me no sense.

We have a vaccine for the Flu that is effect in helping to provide protection to elderly and immune compromised people.

Covid 19 is a new variant that we had no vaccine for at the time and no one had any immunity so we needed to be as vigilant as possible to keep it from spreading unchecked.

Unlike the Flu which we have natural immunity to year after year and we also have some vaccine protection against.

These are all very basic concepts you should understand after living with covid for over a year.

Since you don't i can only suspect your ignorance is why you keep making such idiotic statements and not your selfishness.


----------



## GURPS

easyliving45 said:


> Asian countries put a huge premium on protecting their elders and think of themselves in a much more society focused way over individual needs.




Fantasy Supposition Innuendo and Assumption


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> Again.  Please stop making stupid analogies that me no sense.
> 
> We have a vaccine for the Flu that is effect in helping to provide protection to elderly and immune compromised people.
> 
> Covid 19 is a new variant that we had no vaccine for at the time and no one had any immunity so we needed to be as vigilant as possible to keep it from spreading unchecked.
> 
> Unlike the Flu which we have natural immunity to year after year and we also have some vaccine protection against.
> 
> These are all very basic concepts you should understand after living with covid for over a year.
> 
> Since you don't i can only suspect your ignorance is why you keep making such idiotic statements and not your selfishness.


We have no natural immunity for the flu, or we wouldn't die from it.

We have a vaccine for Covid, and yet people vaccinated are still told to wear masks.

Based on the decrease in new cases, it seems clear we have reached a strong level of herd immunity already in the US, yet we are still told to wear masks.

And, no one is required to get the flu shot.  Indeed, most do not get it - by choice.  I suspect we will be close to that with Covid shots.

That said, it has nothing to do with the government reaction.  Tens of thousands of people die every year from the flu, and we did nothing to stop it, like wearing masks.  If wearing masks is no big deal, why did we not do that?  It can only be because our government doesn't care about us, and therefore President Obama is directly responsible for the almost 300,000 deaths by flu over his regime.

Seems as clear as your point to me.


----------



## This_person

GURPS said:


> Fantasy Supposition Innuendo and Assumption


He means only good-blooded ones, not Uyghurs, or Japanese, or Caucasion, or black folks, or anything like that.  Just the "good" Chinese


----------



## Rommey

While not really the "politics" of masks in the government sense, but rather the "politics" of the mask in a social sense: I was wondering what the science/thought process is behind the sports leagues and their mask policies. Consider the NFL for a second. Here you have 108 players between the two teams and for the entire game at least 44 (11 offense/11defense each team) of them are making extreme physical contact with each other. While unlikely that all 108 players are going to be in the game at some point making physical contact, let's limit the discussion to the 50-60 that actually will be in the game at some point. While in the game they are not required to wear masks, but once they come out of the game, they are required to put on a mask. They are also some of the most tested people on a regular basis. 

So, what makes them less susceptible to the virus while in the game, but more susceptible sitting on the sideline? 

NBA/NCAA basketball has similar policies.


----------



## kom526

easyliving45 said:


> Because many Americans like you are selfish and only think of themselves.   Asian countries* put a huge premium on* _*protecting their elders*_


Like Ron DeSantis does this too, Mario Cuomo hates old people. That’s why he sentenced so many of them to death.


----------



## TPD

Rommey said:


> While not really the "politics" of masks in the government sense, but rather the "politics" of the mask in a social sense: I was wondering what the science/thought process is behind the sports leagues and their mask policies. Consider the NFL for a second. Here you have 108 players between the two teams and for the entire game at least 44 (11 offense/11defense each team) of them are making extreme physical contact with each other. While unlikely that all 108 players are going to be in the game at some point making physical contact, let's limit the discussion to the 50-60 that actually will be in the game at some point. While in the game they are not required to wear masks, but once they come out of the game, they are required to put on a mask. They are also some of the most tested people on a regular basis.
> 
> So, what makes them less susceptible to the virus while in the game, but more susceptible sitting on the sideline?
> 
> NBA/NCAA basketball has similar policies.


Those kind of questions will get you shut down by a doctor at your local health department. Ask me how I know....


----------



## GURPS

*What if They Made a Mask That Actually Worked? A Mask That Disables COVID (and Other Viruses)?*

But there’s a different kind of mask altogether. A reusable fabric mask called The Virustatic Shield, or V-Shield, developed in the U.K. over the past decade for pandemic situations such as this. It contains a food-grade glycoprotein called lactoferrin as the key ingredient. Lactoferrin naturally occurs in the body to fight infection. Dr. Jorge Osorio of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin leads the lab that tested the mask on live viruses for its ability to inactivate COVID. He appeared on American Medicine Today’s radio show recently to discuss the V-Shield and how lactoferrin may change the game.


“Lactoferrin…is a protein that in this case is used to coat the fabric…The protein stays there. It’s very stable, the fabric can be washed,” he said. The mask can be washed while remaining effective, unlike single-use masks. He noted that lactoferrin has no effect on humans as it naturally occurs in the body and is used in everyday food products such as baby formula.

Lactoferrin is a protein found in milk, both bovine and human, and is well known to be effective in the body’s ability to fight infections. Its ferrous nature disables viruses by binding with them, rendering them inert and unable to reproduce or infect. The V-Shield mask is made of biodegradable fabric that’s coated with a protein technology called Viruferrin. That’s a patented blend containing lactoferrin. It binds to the fabric and provides a lethal shield against viruses while doing no harm to humans at all. The mask itself is comfortable and provides the wearer protection even over facial hair. That’s important to those of us with our COVID beards. It can be washed up to 10 times and it will remain effective in disabling not only SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but also the H1N1 influenza virus, providing broad protection for wearers and others around them.

“This particular mask is effective not only in protecting you, but also at protecting others because even with someone who might be shedding COVID, but might not know they’re infected because some folks don’t have symptoms, but they can still be transmitting the virus to other people. This mask works really well in avoiding that transmission,” Dr. Osorio said.


----------



## Hijinx

But you have to milk the cow to get the product you need for the mask, and Peta says it is cruel to milk a cow.  s/


----------



## Grumpy

Woman whips off her underwear and uses it as a make-shift mask
					

The bizarre footage was filmed at a Pick n Pay supermarket in South Africa after a security guard warned the unnamed woman that she would not be served without a face mask.




					www.dailymail.co.uk


----------



## Kyle




----------



## RoseRed

She's not the only one!  

Brazil: Woman Uses Underwear As A Mask To Buy Food - YouTube


----------



## Kyle

I suspect there's a viable short-term business opportunity in this.


----------



## jazz lady




----------



## RoseRed

Kyle said:


> I suspect there's a viable short-term business opportunity in this.


Will we be seeing you under the guise of Fruit of the Loom?


----------



## Kyle

RoseRed said:


> Will we be seeing you under the guise of Fruit of the Loom?


Unlike George Zimmer and his business, I won't be a customer.


----------



## easyliving45

This_person said:


> We have no natural immunity for the flu, or we wouldn't die from it.
> 
> We have a vaccine for Covid, and yet people vaccinated are still told to wear masks.
> 
> Based on the decrease in new cases, it seems clear we have reached a strong level of herd immunity already in the US, yet we are still told to wear masks.
> 
> And, no one is required to get the flu shot.  Indeed, most do not get it - by choice.  I suspect we will be close to that with Covid shots.
> 
> That said, it has nothing to do with the government reaction.  Tens of thousands of people die every year from the flu, and we did nothing to stop it, like wearing masks.  If wearing masks is no big deal, why did we not do that?  It can only be because our government doesn't care about us, and therefore President Obama is directly responsible for the almost 300,000 deaths by flu over his regime.
> 
> Seems as clear as your point to me.





You cant think we are anywhere near herd immunity against Covid can you?

Are you truly that misinformed or are you trying to misinform others?

Again it seems like you are a bot programmed to make the stupidest possible arguments and claims to waste people time refuting them.


I never said everyone gets the Flu shot.   I said people most vulnerable to Flu can get it to avoid dying.  


People who have been vaccinated can still spread the disease despite not being able to get ill from it.

How can you be so angry and not understand these simple concepts that should be clear to you after more than a  year of this information being public?


----------



## Kyle

easyliving45 said:


>




:STSOS:


----------



## GURPS

*Enough Is Enough: Time to Finally Follow the Science on Masks*

Recently I was "fact checked" by PolitiFact for a demo I did showing that masks don't stop the spread of aerosols (longer one here, shorter one here).  The reporter asked for my comments and then said what his narrative required, without regard for any scientific data.  The list of CDC and Medscape information in the video description escaped his attention.  He also completely ignored the fact that Anthony Fauci has flip-flopped on masks more than a fresh-caught fish on deck.

Scientists have been very busy.  When the Wuhan Flu came to America, we were told to constantly bathe our hands in sanitizer.  Now we know that very few cases are spread by contact, so constant hand-washing isn't necessary.  That leaves droplets and aerosols.  Unfortunately, many studies use arbitrary size criteria to distinguish between them, giving us confusing answers.  A better distinction is that droplets are too heavy to stay suspended in the air, so they follow a spitball's trajectory to the floor.  Aerosols can stay suspended for hours, much like cigarette smoke.

Masks work really well against spitballs — oops, droplets.  These larger particles hit and stick.  They don't get through.  So if you cough or sneeze, your mask, handkerchief, or elbow will do a great job of protecting your neighbor.  But what about aerosols?  You emit them every time you breathe, and if your neighbor sniffs after you break wind, you emitted an aerosol there, too.  (Incidentally, COVID-19 is present in sewage in high concentrations.)  We have enough data to show that these smaller, airborne particles are the real culprit in COVID-19 spread.  How good are masks against aerosols?


----------



## GURPS

easyliving45 said:


> Again. Please stop making stupid analogies that me no sense.





I can explain it to you, I cannot understand it for you .


----------



## GURPS

easyliving45 said:


> These are all very basic concepts you should understand after living with covid for over a year.




apparently you cannot comprehend 

MASKS DON'T FU CKING WORK 






_*Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings—Personal Protective and Environmental Measures*_


----------



## This_person

easyliving45 said:


> You cant think we are anywhere near herd immunity against Covid can you?
> 
> Are you truly that misinformed or are you trying to misinform others?
> 
> Again it seems like you are a bot programmed to make the stupidest possible arguments and claims to waste people time refuting them.
> 
> 
> I never said everyone gets the Flu shot.   I said people most vulnerable to Flu can get it to avoid dying.
> 
> 
> People who have been vaccinated can still spread the disease despite not being able to get ill from it.
> 
> How can you be so angry and not understand these simple concepts that should be clear to you after more than a  year of this information being public?


Have you seen the rate of new cases?






That graph is from the CDC.  It would appear to me we're doing a pretty good job.


----------



## stgislander

Thank-you President Biden.


----------



## Kyle

With Pandemic Ending, People Who Yell At Others To Wear Masks In Danger Of Never Feeling Important Again
					

U.S.—There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic as vaccine distribution continues to increase, and soon the whole ordeal will be over. While most people are celebrating this development, it has filled others with worry -- especially those who have taken it upon themselves to yell...




					babylonbee.com


----------



## Hijinx

Don't expect Government to gie permission not to wear masks.
It will stop when people have a bellyful of the nasty snot and spit filled pains in the ass.


----------



## GURPS

*Mississippi Ends Mask Mandates, Allows Businesses To Return To Operating At Full Capacity Starting Tomorrow*





Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, a Republican, announced on Tuesday that he was lifting the mask mandates in his state effective tomorrow and that businesses in the state would be able to return to operating at full capacity.

“Starting tomorrow, we are lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules,” Reeves said on Twitter. “Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed. It is time!”


----------



## GURPS

*Texas Governor Greg Abbott Ends Mandatory Mask Mandate: ‘Time To Open Texas 100%’*

“Too many Texans have been sidelined from employment opportunities,” Abbott said. “Too many small business owners have struggled to pay their bills. This must end. It is now time to open Texas 100%.”

“So today, I’m issuing a new executive order that rescinds most of the earlier executive orders,” Abbott said. “Effective next Wednesday, all businesses of any type are allowed to open 100%. That includes any type of entity in Texas. Also, I’m ending the statewide mask mandate.”

“Today’s announcement does not abandon the safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year,” Abbott said. “Instead, it’s a reminder that each person has their own role to play in their own personal safety as well as in the safety of others. It’s a reminder that individual safety is managed every day as a matter of personal responsibility rather than by government mandate. Individual responsibility is a corollary to individual freedom, we can have both.”


----------



## Kyle

*



*


----------



## GURPS

*ARE MASK MANDATES CRUMBLING?*

For quite a few months now, my family has been living a normal life, unimpeded by covid hysteria. Sure, it’s not perfect: the restaurants are open again, but we do have to wear masks for a few seconds while walking to our table. Also during the few moments while we walk indoors to our offices, and in grocery stores, etc. Given that I think the science is clear, and masks do no, or virtually no, good, I eagerly await the day when we can burn them all. (Didn’t feminists do that with bras many years ago? Pretty good analogy.)

Is the mask dam starting to break? I think so. In Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds has lifted her state’s mask mandate. In Texas, too, Governor Abbott has said businesses can operate at full capacity, and no more masks. In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves has revoked the state’s mask mandate in all counties. And I believe there are a few more who have taken similar steps, like Montana and North Dakota, joining South Dakota which never had a mask law in the first place.

As I say, the dam is breaking. Weirdly, many of the states that require masks are taking an anti-science line toward them. They, with help from the ever-unreliable federal government, are promoting the idea that even after you get vaccinated, you still have to wear a mask. Not to protect yourself, but to protect others. How you can transmit a disease you don’t have to someone else remains a mystery.


----------



## kwillia

Gurps. Vaccinated and immunity are two different things. Immunity only last about three months. Vaccinated but past immunity means you can catch it and will be contagious but the hope is you will only get mild or no symptoms.


----------



## herb749

This_person said:


> Have you seen the rate of new cases?
> 
> View attachment 155503
> 
> 
> That graph is from the CDC.  It would appear to me we're doing a pretty good job.




Yes, flu season is coming to an end.


----------



## Kyle

Texas Removes Mask Mandate To Scare All The Californians Away
					

“The last thing we need is a bunch of sissies from California moving to our beautiful state of Texas and screwing everything up and turning the state blue!” said Governor Abbott during a Lubbock Chamber of Commerce event. “Too many Californians have entered our state. Too many ridiculous liberal...




					babylonbee.com


----------



## Hijinx

That's an even better reason not to wear masks.
It might scare a few New Yorkers too.


----------



## GURPS

*Joe Biden Calls Texas and Mississippi Removing Mask Mandates 'Neanderthal,' but His Fear of What Is Next Is the Real Story*


I think it’s a big mistake. Look, I hope everybody’s realized by now, these masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we’re able to get vaccines in people’s arms. The last thing — the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters.

_I think it’s a big mistake. Look, I hope everybody’s realized by now, these masks make a difference. *We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because* of the way in which we’re able to get vaccines in people’s arms. The last thing — the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters._

_*[Interjection - One does not fundamentally change the nature of a disease, just because a bunch of people get an injection - what a bunch of hyperbolic nonsense] *_

Read my colleague Sister Toldjah’s coverage of the whole press conference at Biden and Psaki Are Asked About Texas Lifting Mask Mandate, They Bomb Their Answers Big Time (Watch),

A couple of things are at play here.

Biden is a pus… ah, um, a very, very weak and vacillating simulacrum of a man. One of his first orders was that the nation observe a mask mandate for his first 100 days in office. Two Republican governors getting rid of masks barely 60 days on doesn’t make him look any stronger than the demented gerbil he is. He’s also concerned that Texas and Mississippi are just the leading edge of a full-bore revolt against the bureaucratic gibberish distributed by CDC and the public health nazis.


----------



## GURPS

O’Rourke said, “They literally want to sacrifice the lives of our fellow Texans, for I don’t know, for political gain? To satisfy certain powerful interests within the state? This isn’t hyperbole. You heard our lieutenant governor, arguably one of the most powerful positions in the state of Texas, say on Fox News at the beginning of the pandemic, we are willing to died. Old people are willing to sacrifice their lives in order for the economy to reopen. It won’t be just any older Texans who die. We know disproportionately it will be black and brown Texans who do. You heard our former Governor Rick Perry perfectly say we will take blackouts that resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy who froze to death in his bed in the trailer where he lives, in death of am eighty-four-year-old grandmother who froze to death at her home, of a Vietnam veteran who froze to death in his truck, more than a hundred deaths at least so far that we know of due to this, Perry says we’ll take that rather than federal oversight and regulation. Now, this mission accomplished deal from Abbott yesterday, saying we are done trying to fight COVID, even though, as you say, Biden has told us every adult in America can be vaccinated by the end of May.”

*He added, “You know. I think too many of us it appeared to be a cult of personality, the Republican Party in the era of Trump, and it probably still holds true. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that it’s also a cult of death. You have extraordinarily anti-democratic elements. I mean, look at the insurrection of January 6 for any proof. You have anti-government elements literally running the government of the state of Texas. I use the phrase failed state because I think when you can’t guarantee the electricity, the heat, the running water, the public welfare, and safety, you are about there by any classic definition. You have folks literally upending civilization as we know it, and completely indifferent to the suffering it caused—44,000 deaths alone just in the state of Texas. In El Paso, there are 280 bodies stacked up in a warehouse because there are not enough gravediggers to dig new graves to be dug, to put them in the ground. They had to call in the National Guard to move the bodies. They had to set up ten mobile morgues. That’s in my city right now, which is eighty- five percent Mexican American. They just don’t care. That indifference is killing people in my community and throughout the state of Texas.”*



*Beto O’Rourke: Republican Party Is a ‘Cult of Death’ — They ‘Literally Want to Sacrifice’ Lives*



Nice Hyperbole Beto


----------



## GURPS

*Alamo Drafthouse Still Requires Masks and Wants You to Know About It*


Here’s a fun thing that liberals do literally every day: They call you a fascist if you want the government to leave you alone. They say you’re a Nazi if you insist you can run your own life without some bureaucrat telling you what to do. If you think a problem, old or new, can be solved with anything short of a federal agent pointing a gun at your head, you’re the worst person in the world and you need to be #canceled. Libs always get it exactly backwards, and then they congratulate themselves for being so smart.

That’s why our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters are falling all over each other to applaud the Alamo Drafthouse theater chain for bravely requiring masks, after Texas Governor Greg Abbott just lifted the state’s mask mandate:


----------



## Kyle

GURPS said:


> *Here’s a fun thing that liberals do literally every day: They call you a fascist if you want the government to leave you alone. They say you’re a Nazi if you insist you can run your own life without some bureaucrat telling you what to do. If you think a problem, old or new, can be solved with anything short of a federal agent pointing a gun at your head, you’re the worst person in the world and you need to be #canceled. Libs always get it exactly backwards, and then they congratulate themselves for being so smart.*


----------



## Hijinx

I have no problem with the Alamo Draft House requiring a mask.
It doesn't affect me here in Maryland, but I have a notion it may affect their business..
Turning away paying customers at the door for not having a mask to walk the ten feet to a table doesn't sound like a good business move to me.


----------



## GURPS

Hijinx said:


> I have no problem with the Alamo Draft House requiring a mask.




Nope .... and I can take my business elsewhere


----------



## jazz lady

*Alamo Drafthouse files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; New Braunfels location to shut down permanently
*


> NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema dropped some big news Wednesday morning, saying that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The location in New Braunfels is being permanently closed as a result.
> 
> The movie-chain said it's one of three company-owned theaters – along with Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin and locations in Kansas City, MO that will close down for good.


*

New Braunfels Alamo Drafthouse to shut down due to bankruptcy | kens5.com *


----------



## GURPS

*The CDC Issues a Study on Mask Mandates and You Should Have Questions*


On March 5, 2021, the CDC issued a study that they conclude should recommend mask mandates nationwide and closure of indoor spaces such as restaurants and bars. As with all studies, the devil is in the details. For a health bureaucracy that harps on the need for random, controlled, double-blind studies, the recommendations based on this one are alarming. The Netherlands did the only recent analysis using that gold standard to assess the effectiveness of mask-wearing to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. It showed no statistically significant difference between people who wore masks and those who did not in contracting COVID-19.

Still based on the new analysis, the CDC produced this graphic:


View attachment 155672



*Is that technically what they found? Sure. The problem is with how they found it. In the study, they use mask mandates by county as a proxy for the behavior of mask-wearing. This assertion is a gross over-assumption given polls regarding the use of masks nationwide. For example, one poll in October showed adults (93%) said they sometimes, often or always wore a mask or face covering when they leave their home and are unable to socially distance, including more than seven in 10 (72%) who said they always did.*


----------



## Hijinx

Let's be honest, No one is saying that those who are frightened or haven't had their vaccinations, or who just like to wear their masks because without them they are ugly, have every right to wear them. Beto can wear his until his snot locker falls off and I don't care. Just leave me the F*** alone


----------



## GURPS

*Masks Are Just Part of the Socialists' Uniform*

The Centers for Disease Control released another study showing no statistically significant decrease in "daily case" or "death growth" rates from COVID-19 in areas with mask mandates.  This comes after a similar CDC study in October indicated that mask mandates do not appear to have slowed or stopped the spread of the coronavirus at all.  Still, the CDC continues to recommend that all Americans wear masks, except in certain private settings when individuals are fully vaccinated, unless the goalpost-shifting Dr. Fauci gets his way.

This whole "masks don't seem to be having much effect, but wear them anyway" bureaucratic calculus may seem like a frivolous controversy to Americans preoccupied with the pandemic, but for Americans who are equally worried about the State's steady encroachment into the lives of families, mask mandates are the worst kind of noxious administrative abuse — another iteration of government coercion that constricts a person's freedom while accomplishing next to nothing.  It's government rule-making for the sake of rule-making whose chief purpose is to demonstrate that it is the government's job to command and each citizen's duty to readily obey.

_Mask mandates are the perfect metaphor for a government that demands obedience:_

Mask mandates are reminiscent of Barack Obama's belief that wealthy Americans should be taxed at higher rates, even if the imposition of those new taxes produces no net benefit for the federal treasury.  By his own admission, Obama's insistence on increasing taxes for wealthy Americans was not about generating government revenue or reducing government debt, but rather about punishing individual Americans for having acquired too much personal wealth.  It was a way for Obama to prove that he takes income inequality seriously while doing nothing about it.

In the same way, our American mask mandates are not really about reducing the spread of disease or "following the science," but rather about insisting that individual Americans prove through their attire that they take COVID-19 seriously, even if masks do nothing about it.


----------



## easyliving45




----------



## Gilligan

easyliving45 said:


> View attachment 155815


You should stop peeing yourself.....seriously.


----------



## Tech

Gilligan said:


> You should stop peeing yourself.....seriously.


If it's good enough for Joe.......


----------



## Gilligan

Tech said:


> If it's good enough for Joe.......


I got sleazyliving pegged as more of a Jerry Nadler type...


----------



## Tech

Gilligan said:


> I got sleazyliving pegged as more of a Jerry Nadler type...


You mean he can't get the distance?


----------



## GURPS

*Mask Mandates Do Not Save Lives*

We have no way of measuring whether or how much and how appropriately individuals wear masks, but state mandates that people wear them are predicated on the notion that more people will do so if they are threatened with a fine or punishment.  Thus, it makes sense to demand that states with mask mandates have lower COVID-19 death rates than states that don't.  If states with mask mandates are not experiencing lower rates than states without them, the citizenry should insist that the burdensome policy of requiring masks be abandoned.

Logic or speculation alone cannot provide a reliable answer to the question of mask effectiveness.  Neither can the judgments and proclamations of politicians or even public health experts.  What we need is data.

The Data

[clip]

The Study

The question is, "Do states with mask mandates have lower COVID-19 death rates than states with no mandate?"  If they do, the enforced wearing of masks may have been a reasonable approach to limiting deaths from COVID-19.  Otherwise, the rationale for imposing mask mandates disintegrates. In a similar fashion, states that never imposed a mask mandate can readily justify their behavior only if their COVID-19 death rates do not exceed those of the mask-mandated states.

Only ten states have had no mask mandate of any sort; the other forty imposed mask mandates that required one to be worn at all indoor venues and in all outdoor situations that challenge the six-foot distancing expectation.  The following map identifies the states in each group.




Using the data sources above, figures for the total population and the total number of COVID-19 deaths were extracted for each of the fifty states.  A COVID-19 death rate was calculated for each state by dividing its number of COVID-19 deaths by its population and then multiplying the result by 10,000.  The result was a COVID-19 death rate indicating the number of deaths per 10,000 people.  By sorting these individual state rates into two groups — masks mandatory versus masks voluntary — I could calculate the average COVID-19 death rate for each group.

*States with a mask mandate: 13.0 deaths per 10,000 population.

States with no mask mandate: 12.6 deaths per 10,000 population.*

Since the average COVID-19 death rate is actually lower for the voluntary mask states than it is for the mandated mask states, it is incumbent on advocates for the mask mandate to either reveal the data upon which they arrived at their conclusion or else stop making the claim that masks help keep people safe.

A variant on the theme of mask-mandated safety is the notion that states that adopted a mask mandate early on have lower death rates than the states that did so late.  Since the basis of this contention is that a greater length of time under the rule of mask has been an effective way of assuring low death rates, let us compare the performance of the ten earliest mask mandate states to the performance of the ten states that have never required a mask.


----------



## Kyle

Biden Says Mask Wearing Must Continue Until Everyone Has Learned Complete Obedience To Government
					

WASHINGTON D.C.—A big question on everyone’s mind is when they will finally be able to stop wearing masks. President Joe Biden recently clarified this issue, saying people will be able to stop wearing masks as soon as absolutely everyone “has learned complete obedience to the government.”“Both...




					babylonbee.com


----------



## Kyle




----------



## GURPS

*Oregon Health Officials Propose Making Mask Mandates Permanent* 


Oregon state health officials unveiled a new proposal in January which seeks to make temporary mask mandates permanent.

The current order, passed in November by the state’s workplace safety department, which requires all employers to implement state-imposed guidelines for social distancing and mask compliance, is set to expire on May 4. Oregon health bureaucrats are now seeking to make the rules permanent.


“Although the rule must be adopted as a permanent rule, its purpose is to address the COVID-19 pandemic,” the proposal reads. “Oregon [Occupational Safety and Health] intends to repeal the rule when it is no longer necessary to address the pandemic.”

No threshold for what constitutes when the mandate is “no longer necessary” however, is offered in the proposal.


----------



## TPD

Apparently Neanderthal thinking isn't so bad after all.  This doesn't fit well with the MSM narrative - how will they spin it?



> Just over two weeks after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted coronavirus mandatesallowing businesses to operate at 100 percent capacity and made masks optional, the red state is still reporting decreases in cases and hospitalizations.
> 
> The governor championed his state’s success in a Friday night tweet saying, "Today Texas recorded the lowest 7-day COVID positivity rate since that data began being calculated: 5.43%."











						Texas COVID numbers decrease 17 days after mask, other restrictions lifted
					

Just over two weeks after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted coronavirus mandates allowing businesses to operate at 100 percent capacity and made masks optional, the red state is still reporting decreases in cases and hospitalizations.




					www.foxnews.com


----------



## GURPS

TPD said:


> This doesn't fit well with the MSM narrative - how will they spin it?





Sapidus is waiting for talking points


----------



## GURPS

*Here's What Happened as a Result of Gov. Abbott's 'Neanderthal Thinking' About Mask Mandates*


The media had a meltdown.

Fox News:



> _A Washington Post reporter reacted to Abbott’s decision by sharing an article from last September that a “mass casualty event” was happening every day in Texas. Another journalist called Abbott and people who agree with him “wingnuts,” and a liberal website declared Abbott, “showed that there is no limit to how far Republicans will go to kill people by lifting Texas’s mask mandate.”_


But Abbott’s order, which went into effect March 10 and also gave businesses the option of going to 100 percent capacity, hasn’t stopped the downward trajectory of positive coronavirus tests. Fewer people are getting sick after Abbott gave Texas citizens the option of wearing a mask or not. Businesses also had the option of maintaining a mask requirement.

Lifting the mandate did not mean that Abbott was saying people couldn’t or shouldn’t wear a mask. But that’s the way that the governor’s political enemies portrayed the order. It turns out, the naysayers look pretty foolish at this point.



> _Despite the outrage, The Texas Department of State Health Services reported on Thursday that new coronavirus cases have declined since the mask mandate was lifted. The New York Times daily tracker shows Texas daily coronavirus cases are down 28 percent from two weeks ago.
> Fox News contributor Guy Benson shared a variety of headlines from news organizations sounding the alarm on March 2. Newsweek focused on Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke calling the decision a “death warrant for Texans,” a local ABC affiliate declared,” Model projections for Texas show worst-case scenario without mask mandate,” CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza wrote about Abbott’s “head-scratching, anti-science decision” and another headline declared Abbott’s decision could result in another coronavirus surge._


----------



## GURPS




----------



## Kyle




----------



## GURPS

*The WHO's Own Data Suggest the Futility of Masks and Lockdowns*



The World Health Organization’s latest COVID-19 data from both European nations presents a stark difference between how they responded to the pandemic — and which response was the proper one.

There I was, scrolling through my MeWe timeline, minding my own business (and trying to avoid doing any actual work) when I came across this gem of a chart.

The data contained is current as of March 19, 2021.






(WHO data Sweden and Czechia by @ianmSC via Twitter)

As you can see, Sweden got its COVID cases out of the way early, without any economy-destroying shutdowns or liberty-destroying personal restrictions. Czechia went entirely the other direction, yet even now cases are spiking.

Before we get to that, let’s talk briefly about how the two countries are alike.

Both have populations of a little more than ten million people, with similar life expectancies of about 80 years at birth. The median age in both countries is nearly identical, too, at about 41 years old. Again, both countries have similar demographics when it comes to the elderly: the 65-and-up cohort is right around 20% whether you’re in Prague or Stockholm.

I had thought that Sweden’s lower population density might have been an advantage, but Sweden’s urbanization rate (88%!) is actually much higher than the Czech Republic’s (73.8%).

What’s most interesting to me is that Sweden accomplished exactly what we were promised one year ago: Flattening the curve.


----------



## Hijinx

Getting pretty tired of the Government trying to scare the piss out of me.


----------



## GURPS

*Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules Governor Exceeded His Authority With Mask Mandate, Extended Lockdowns*


The Wisconsin Supreme Court narrowly ruled against Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday after it found that the Democrat exceeded his authority to impose and extend multiple COVID-19 emergency orders in violation of state law.

In a 4-3 ruling, the court stated that Evers unlawfully issued two COVID-19 emergency orders in July and September, including a statewide mask mandate, without the state legislature’s approval, a requirement outlined by Wisconsin statutes.

“The plain language of the statute explains that the governor may, for 60 days, act with expanded powers to address a particular emergency,”  Justice Brian Hagedorn wrote in the majority opinion. “Beyond 60 days, however, the legislature reserves for itself the power to determine the policies that govern the state’s response to an ongoing problem. Similarly, when the legislature revokes a state of emergency, a governor may not simply reissue another one on the same basis.”


----------



## stgislander

4-3... definitely was not clear cut ruling.  Likely went along ideological (party) lines.


----------



## TPD

I thought Maryland had a similar law - gov could only declare an emergency for 30 or 60 days before he needed legislative approval.  But being the liberal state we are I guess no one is willing to challenge him.


----------



## GURPS

TPD said:


> But being the liberal state we are I guess no one is willing to challenge him.    [/QUOTE
> 
> 
> Naa the scared little bitches Like Sapidus LOVE The Authoritarianism


----------



## GURPS

*Wisconsin Supreme Court Overrules Dem Governor On Mask Mandate*

For his part, Evers argued that the nature of the pandemic had changed, which thus allowed for him to enact multiple emergency orders for the COVID-19 threat even after the expiration of the original 60-day period. The state supreme court, however, ruled 4-3 that Evers was not actually legally allowed to enact such extensions under Wisconsin law.

“We recognize that determining when a set of facts gives rise to a unique enabling condition may not always be easy,” said the court. “But here, COVID-19 has been a consistent threat, and no one can suggest this threat has gone away and then reemerged. The threat has ebbed and flowed, but this does not negate the basic reality that COVID-19 has been a significant and constant danger for a year, with no letup. In the words of the statute, the occurrence of an ‘illness or health condition’ caused by a ‘novel . . . biological agent’ has remained, unabated.”

Concerning the scope of the court’s analysis, the majority opinion noted: “Some may wish our analysis would focus on ensuring the Governor has sufficient power to fight COVID-19; others may be more concerned about expansive executive power. But outside of a constitutional violation, these policy concerns are not relevant to this court’s task in construing the statute. Whether the policy choices reflected in the law give the governor too much or too little authority to respond to the present health crisis does not guide our analysis. Our inquiry is simply whether the law gives the governor the authority to successively declare states of emergency in this circumstance.”

Evers said in a statement Wednesday that the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic was not over. The statement did not directly mention the court.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*GOP Kansas Lawmakers Strike Down Democrat Governor’s Statewide Mask Mandate*


Republican legislators in Kansas ended the state’s mask mandate Thursday, effectively blocking an executive order from Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly that would have kept it in place.

The Legislative Coordinating Council, which is group of eight leading state lawmakers, voted 5-2 along party lines to end Kelly’s mask mandate just hours after she extended it, according to The Kansas City Star. State Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop was not present for the vote, which was conducted virtually.


----------



## GURPS

*Mask-Wearing Represents Fear and Blind Obedience, Not Science*


If you wear a mask, you do so in the belief that you are protecting yourself (and others) from COVID-19. So, then, why do you care if I don't wear a mask? Doesn't your mask protect you? If it does, my not wearing a mask may irritate you because you resent my assertion of freedom, my obvious lack of respect for government and medical authorities, and my alleged selfishness, but there would be no rational medical -- that is, "science-based" -- reason for your objecting to my not wearing a mask.

*And if masks protect us and others, why have people been refused the right to visit a loved one as he or she lay dying alone? Why couldn't a person -- wearing the same mask a doctor, nurse or any health care worker wears when entering your parent's room -- enter that room? There are two possible answers: One is it's a tacit admission that masks are essentially useless. You were prevented from visiting your dying father because the hospital believes your loved one or others in the hospital might contract the virus from you, even though you were wearing a mask. Which means those running the hospital don't believe masks actually work. The other is that the medical establishment and lay authorities have abandoned elementary human decency in the name of AOC, or "Abundance of Caution." Forcing hundreds of thousands of people to die alone will go down as one of the cruelest policies ever adopted by American medical and political authorities.*

The problem is most Americans who went to college learned to unquestioningly obey "experts." This is why common sense, logic and reason mean little to the well-educated -- and, increasingly, to everyone else, because everyone is taught by the well-educated. All we need to know is what the "experts" say. That plus a fanatical adherence to the rule of AOC have crushed logic and reason.

[clip]

Dr. Anthony Fauci himself told the truth about the uselessness of mask-wearing on "60 Minutes" on March 8, 2020: "Right now, in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks. ... There's no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you're in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better, and it might even block a droplet, but it's not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences: People keep fiddling with the mask, and they keep touching their face."

Dr. Ramin Oskoui, a cardiologist in Washington at a Senate hearing in December 2020, testified under oath: "Masks do not work." (The New York Times, Dec. 8, 2020.)

The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 11, 2020: "The projected number of lives saved, and the implied case for a mask mandate, are based on a faulty statistic."

Dr. Paul E. Alexander, a Canadian epidemiologist, wrote: "Surgical and cloth masks, used as they currently are, have absolutely no impact on controlling the transmission of Covid-19 virus, and current evidence implies that face masks can be actually harmful." (American Institute for Economic Research, Feb. 11, 2021.)

Roger W. Koops, who has a doctorate in chemistry from the University of California, Riverside, wrote: "A 'mask,' and that term usually refers to either a SURGICAL mask or N95 mask, has no benefit in the general population and is only useful in controlled clinical settings. Further, it has been considered a greater transmission risk than a benefit in the general population. ... In the open environment, no one should be wearing face coverings." (American Institute for Economic Research, Oct. 16, 2020.)


----------



## GURPS

*The Male Steward Who Forced A Family Out Of The Plane Because Of Unmasked Toddler Received Instant Karma*


The mother, who is 7 months pregnant, told the flight attendant that her child just turned two one month ago.

The flight attendant addressed the family on behalf of the male steward who didn’t want them on the plane.

‘I’m sorry. They want you off,’ the flight attendant tells the family, adding that they were ‘noncompliant with the masks’.

The flight attendant says ‘it’s not my choice’ as the girl’s dad argues that they also have their ‘special needs’ son with them. The steward then walks away and says she’s going to call the police onboard.







After all of the passengers were back at the gate, police officers were seen in another clip escorting the male steward, who had a problem with the girl not wearing a mask, off the plane.









I'd like to know what ' Sapidus ' did to get led away by the police


----------



## GURPS

*16 states have decided you don’t need to wear a face mask anymore*


According to the latest coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins University, more than 29.1 million coronavirus cases have been reported in the US through Thursday afternoon, in addition to more than 530,000 coronavirus deaths. The 7-day average of new coronavirus cases in the US is now down to a little more than 63,000 from more than 250,000 at one point in early January — and while public health experts like White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci would like to see that number fall still dramatically farther before an end to the pandemic is declared, some officials have decided to go ahead and start celebrating early.

On Thursday, for example, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced that the state would join the ranks of those states that are now lifting face mask mandates around the US. His announcement also includes the lifting of restrictions on events, as well. “Because of the progress we’ve made, I’ll be issuing a new executive order tomorrow,” Stitt said. “The standard for normal cannot be zero cases.”

Importantly, Stitt said he’s still _encouraging_ Oklahoma residents to wear face masks — it’s just that the requirement is no longer there on a statewide basis. Similarly, other states have decided to go ahead down this same route. Like Texas, which garnered a flood of national media attention for its own lifting of coronavirus safety measures on a statewide basis, as you can read in our previous post here.


----------



## Hijinx

Our boy Larry will not let us stop wearing masks until his buddy Biden tells him to let us stop.
It may be a year or two.


----------



## Kyle




----------



## GURPS

*Ted Cruz Is Ditching Face Masks: ‘I’ve Been Vaccinated’*


Cruz told CNN Thursday that he and other senators and staff working on the Hill have been vaccinated and that he no longer needs to wear a face mask. In the past, Cruz has compared said that wearing face masks after being vaccinated is a type of theatrical virtue signaling.

“At this point I’ve been vaccinated. Everybody working in the Senate has been vaccinated,” Cruz said. He is the second lawmaker, following Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), to ditch face masks on Capitol Hill.

Once vaccinated, Americans have almost no chance of contracting COVID-19. Out of 76.6 million Americans who have received the vaccine, about 5,800 people have later tested positive for the virus, an infection rate of 0.008%, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

CDC guidelines on what one can and cannot do post-vaccination are relatively restrictive, recommending people stay away from medium to large gatherings and maintain social distancing and wear masks while in public settings. According to the CDC, vaccinated people can unmask in private settings with a group of people who have also been vaccinated. Vaccinated people may also travel via plane with being tested before and after or quarantining.


----------



## TPD

Let’s hope this is the start of the house of cards crumbling


----------



## Hijinx

I wore my mask today cutting the lawn. It works fairly well for pollen, bot so much for Covid.
O course you can see pollen. Especially on a black car.

When you see a yellow coating of dust on a parking lot things are getting bad.


----------



## GURPS

*Ted Cruz Stops Wearing a Mask After Getting the Vaccine, Which Is Somehow Newsworthy*


Now that more and more people are getting vaccinated, though, these mask fanatics are having trouble adjusting. They enjoy wagging their fingers in our faces way too much to stop now. And if they can harangue a _Republican_, well, even better.

Lexi Lonas, The Hill:



> Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Thursday that he will no longer be wearing a mask at the Capitol since he is fully vaccinated.
> “At this point I’ve been vaccinated. Everybody working in the Senate has been vaccinated,” Cruz told CNN. “CDC has said in small groups, particularly with people who were vaccinated, don’t need to wear masks.”
> Cruz and many other lawmakers have been fully vaccinated against the virus, but the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still recommending vaccinated people wear masks in large groups of people since many have not been fully vaccinated yet.


Why?

This isn’t a rhetorical question. If these vaccines work, why do vaccinated people need to wear masks?

Why?

People are getting kicked off passenger flights for allowing their children to eat without masks, as if it were somehow possible for them to eat with their mouths covered.

Why?

Jen Psaki regularly stands at a podium in front of the White House press corps, all of whom are wearing masks, and she never wears a mask.


Why?

There hasn’t been a single reported case of someone getting COVID-19 from touching a surface, yet there’s still all this cleaning theater going on. A public figure walks away from a microphone, and somebody rushes in and sprays down everything he might’ve touched or breathed on.

Why?

Now one of the vaccines has been pulled entirely because there’s literally one chance in a million that if you’re pregnant or on birth control, you could get blood clots. That’s a 0.0001% chance.

Why?

None of this crap makes sense. There’s nothing scientific about any of this. It’s just hysteria. Superstition.


----------



## Kyle

Popular New Mask Reads 'I'm Not A Democrat, I Just Forgot To Take Off My Mask When I Left The Store'










						Popular New Mask Reads 'I'm Not A Democrat, I Just Forgot To Take Off My Mask When I Left The Store'
					

U.S.—A popular new mask has a message for people who see you while you're walking around or driving about town: "I'm Not a Democrat, I Just Forgot To Take Off My Mask When I Left the Store."




					babylonbee.com


----------



## Tech

Kyle said:


> Popular New Mask Reads 'I'm Not A Democrat, I Just Forgot To Take Off My Mask When I Left The Store'
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Popular New Mask Reads 'I'm Not A Democrat, I Just Forgot To Take Off My Mask When I Left The Store'
> 
> 
> U.S.—A popular new mask has a message for people who see you while you're walking around or driving about town: "I'm Not a Democrat, I Just Forgot To Take Off My Mask When I Left the Store."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> babylonbee.com


When the masks come off, stores will need to have placards warning to watch your step so as not to trip over the cowering curled up in the fetal.


----------



## GURPS

*Maine College Imposes $50 Fine On Students Who Don’t Wear Masks*



Oliver Griswold, a spokesman for the school, said that the school is using “all of the tools at our disposal to try to keep COVID off campus.” The college doubled down on its decision to ticket students, claiming that they were given advance notices about all fines and policies.


Universities across the country have taken extreme measures to shield college students and faculty from the coronavirus. In some cases, schools such as Harvard University and the University of California system opted to shut down campuses entirely and move to virtual learning-only to mitigate the spread at the beginning of the pandemic.

As the pandemic slows down and vaccines become increasingly available to the American public, universities remain uncertain about what a return to campus will look like. Many schools are making a return to campus contingent on vaccination for nearly all students and staff.

Rutgers University in New Jersey was the first school to announce plans for mandatory vaccination. Leadership at Cornell University announced soon after that students and staff must be vaccinated to return to campus in the fall.


----------



## GURPS

*Liberal Website Slate Says It’s Time To Stop Wearing Masks Outdoors*


But one liberal website is finally taking aim at outdoor mask-wearing.

In a piece headlined “It’s About Time for Us to Stop Wearing Masks Outside,” Slate makes a case for why the practice could well be pointless.

“For a while now, this has felt a little unnecessary, if understandable, given that we were still learning things about the virus and were trying to be as careful as possible,” wrote senior editor Shannon Palus. “But now, as we’ve come to know more about the virus, as vaccinations are ramping up, and as we’re trying to figure out how to live with some level of COVID in a sustainable way, masking up outside when you’re at most briefly crossing paths with people is starting to feel barely understandable.”


----------



## GURPS

*Georgia mother stands up against school's mask mandate: 'There's no end in sight'*

Taylor slammed members for forcing children to wear masks and socially distance at school, despite there being little evidence small children can contract a severe case of coronavirus.

She also argued that it's been more than a year since the pandemic began, vaccines are available and every adult in Georgia is eligible.

"I think month after month I have been waiting for this mask requirement to end or at the very least ease up, and there's just no end in sight and nobody's even having the discussion about when this is going to stop," Taylor said.

Taylor claimed school board members voiced concerns about students' social and mental health, but argues they don't recognize the social and mental consequences of the mask mandate itself.


----------



## Hijinx

It's way past time to stop with the freaking masks.
They need to find this guy Faucci a job where he knows what he is doing.
Probably changing the bed sheets in a hospital somewhere and let American get on with their lives without any more Covid BS.


----------



## PrchJrkr

Hijinx said:


> It's way past time to stop with the freaking masks.
> They need to find this guy Faucci a job where he knows what he is doing.
> Probably changing the bed sheets in a hospital somewhere and let American get on with their lives without any more Covid BS.


The little piss ant needs to be tarred, feathered, and run out of town.


----------



## Hijinx

PrchJrkr said:


> The little piss ant needs to be tarred, feathered, and run out of town.



If I had been wrong as often as him in my job I would have been fired long ago.


----------



## PrchJrkr

Hijinx said:


> If I had been wrong as often as him in my job I would have been fired long ago.


This is what you get when you allow people to vote, who have no stake in the game. They can vote for things that effect YOUR money. It's not theirs. My feelings are that if you don't pay taxes, you shouldn't have ANY say in how those taxes are used.


----------



## GURPS

*“When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.”*

― Benjamin Franklin


----------



## GURPS

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.",  - Alexis de Tocqueville (in "Democracy in America")


----------



## GURPS

*Experts Agree That Outdoor Post-Vaccination Masking Is Useless*

The evidence is clear: COVID-19 is a disease that spreads when humans breathe, talk, laugh, and sing in each other's faces during close contact—particularly indoors, in poorly ventilated spaces. The outdoors, on the other hand, are associated with very little transmission. Moreover, the vaccinated are essentially immune from severe disease and death, and their odds of contracting the virus at all are very low. Their odds of spreading the disease are even lower. Vaccinated people who have incidental contact with other people outside are not going to spread the virus, and requiring people to mask up during such circumstances is pointless.
​That's not a matter of opinion: It's the expert consensus. If you don't want to hear it, then you aren't listening to the science. Government policy makers take heed; it is long past time to end COVID-19 restrictions—especially the ones that aren't even serving any actual public health purpose.


----------



## GURPS

*The COVID Panic Mafia's Mask Fetish Just Went Up in Flames. MIT Researchers Torched It.*


In the meantime, the narrative from the COVID panic peddlers and the liberal media about mask-wearing and social distancing took a hit with a new MIT study that says both are worthless. Oh, and the caps on indoors occupancy are also not backed up by science and keeping windows open, fans blowing, and overall fresh air circulating is just as good as a new filtration system. In other words, teachers’ unions really have no reason to stay home anymore (via CNBC):



> The risk of being exposed to Covid-19 indoors is as great at 60 feet as it is at 6 feet — even when wearing a mask, according to a new study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers who challenge social distancing guidelines adopted across the world.






> “We argue there really isn’t much of a benefit to the 6-foot rule, especially when people are wearing masks,” Bazant said in an interview. “It really has no physical basis because the air a person is breathing while wearing a mask tends to rise and comes down elsewhere in the room so you’re more exposed to the average background than you are to a person at a distance.”



So, the occupancy rules are garbage. Fresh air and fans are just as effective as an expensive filtration system. The six-feet apart rule is ridiculous, and masks don’t protect you all that much. So, Fauci was wrong. The experts were wrong. But they’re so arrogant they cannot admit a mistake. They’ve taken a scared straight approach. Bill Maher actually offered a biting and rational commentary on how a) liberals are just as misinformed as the people they mock regarding this virus, and b) the experts opted not to give it to us straight which set us on this messaging mess that’s plagued us for a year. Yes, Maher made a pun about Trump and bleach, but he’s a comedian and a liberal. He’s bound to make a joke—but the overall message is clear: this isn’t the time to be mixing politics with the messaging on COVID. Fauci is a bureaucrat. The CDC director is a bureaucrat. They all have agendas. And they’re not gods. They’re not oracles. They were wrong. They’ve been wrong. And now they want us to live in fear because of variants. Sorry, the variants aren’t more lethal, so again they get a shovel to the face. We’re done. And you cannot tell us what we can and cannot do on the Fourth of July, doc. Your time is up. Shut up and let us reopen at will.


----------



## TPD

I bet I will not see this MIT study referenced on CNN today.


----------



## black dog

We went to Amazing Joes in Muncie for dinner last night, Had a great aged strip vuand not one mask was visible on the property.


----------



## GURPS

*MEANWHILE, BACK IN COVID-LAND*

In the never-ending saga of Dr. Fauci’s white-coat supremacism over public policy, in which, to paraphrase Mussolini, the motto of Faucism might be “All within the CDC, nothing outside the CDC, nothing against the CDC,” we note the new study from MIT published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which finds that the indoor six-foot distancing rule is not well-founded. To the contrary, the study found that there was about the same risk of catching COVID indoors at 60 feet as there is at six feet. Face masks and ventilation/air circulation are much more effective than social distancing.

The full study is very technical, but the authors offered this plain-English summary to CNBC:



> “We argue there really isn’t much of a benefit to the 6-foot rule, especially when people are wearing masks,” Bazant said in an interview. “It really has no physical basis because the air a person is breathing while wearing a mask tends to rise and comes down elsewhere in the room so you’re more exposed to the average background than you are to a person at a distance.”



Meanwhile, the _New York Times_ has a story out Friday purporting to prove that the U.S. death rate is the highest in a century because of COVID. The article is a case-study in the importance of statistical presentation—especially when put into graphic form. The first chart in the article seems to back up the headline:









WOW! Look at the 2020 spike! We’re all doomed! Thank God for Dr. Fauci!

But the matter begins to look different when you look at the second chart the _Times_ included:


----------



## herb749

I read a comment about why people are not getting a vaccine. Why get one if I still have to wear a mask. Is there no confidence in this vaccine that I still have to wear one .?

I'm not buying the you can still be a carrier of it with being 99% safe from it with a vaccine. Can I carry it on a tiny part of my eye brow .?


----------



## Kyle

herb749 said:


> I'm not buying the you can still be a carrier of it with being 99% safe from it with a vaccine. Can I carry it on a tiny part of my eye brow .?



It hides within and is expelled through flatulence. 

So far, all the recent victims in my building caught it in elevators.


----------



## Sneakers

Kyle said:


> It hides within and is expelled through flatulence.
> 
> So far, all the recent victims in my building caught it in elevators.


It's the crop dusters....


----------



## herb749

This morning the Today show is touting that Biden is going to make an announcement on us not having to wear masks outside. Did Dr Jill make a decision .?


----------



## my-thyme

We were supposed to wear masks outside? Guess I didn't get that memo, no wonder I get the stink eye in the grocery parking lot.


----------



## TPD

herb749 said:


> This morning the Today show is touting that Biden is going to make an announcement on us not having to wear masks outside. Did Dr Jill make a decision .?


Don't get too excited - Fat Larry still has to tell us it's ok not to wear one outside.


----------



## stgislander

TPD said:


> Don't get too excited - Fat Larry still has to tell us it's ok not to wear one outside.


So is Dr. Mean Girl requiring you to check vaccine passports before allowing unmasked customers in the store?


----------



## frequentflier

herb749 said:


> This morning the Today show is touting that Biden is going to make an announcement on us not having to wear masks outside. Did Dr Jill make a decision .?



Masks are required at the Calvert Co fairgrounds for their flea market on Saturdays. When I went two weeks ago, I was looking for specific things (costume jewelry) and did not wander around otherwise. Normally, I would check everything out and go to every booth but found the mask made me anxious to get out of there. 
If people choose to wear a mask, fine. But I am not fine with it being forced on me at an outdoors venue.


----------



## TPD

my-thyme said:


> We were supposed to wear masks outside? Guess I didn't get that memo, no wonder I get the stink eye in the grocery parking lot.



according to Hogies executive order, you must wear one outside when you cannot consistently maintain 6'.  Health department noted on one of their inspection reports against us that my employees were not wearing masks outside - they were doing all they could to "throw the book" at us.


----------



## TPD

stgislander said:


> So is Dr. Mean Girl requiring you to check vaccine passports before allowing unmasked customers in the store?


Please please don't give her any ideas!  I will probably be the only business in St. Mary's required to do that.


----------



## my-thyme

Hoping you have side-stepped that book....


----------



## TPD

I missed Tucker last night ( my daughter and I were at a political event meeting with our elected officials - most of us (~75-100) unmasked, hugging, shaking hands and socializing - it was great!) but here is his rant on masks outside.



> The next time you see someone in a mask on the sidewalk or the bike path, don’t hesitate. Ask politely but firmly: "would you please take off your mask? Science shows there is no reason to wear it. Your mask is making me uncomfortable." We should do that, and we should keep doing it, until wearing a mask outdoors is roughly as socially accepted as lighting a Marlboro in an elevator. It’s repulsive. Don’t do it around other people. That’s the message we should send because it’s true.



TUCKER CARLSON: The Outdoor Mask myth and why we played along for so long


----------



## my-thyme

We watched that, it was great. 

His recommendation, give people wearing masks outside the stink eye.


----------



## GURPS

TPD said:


> according to Hogies executive order, you must wear one outside when you cannot consistently maintain 6'




sock cuckers need to update that chit ...... social distancing is useless in avoiding the coof 

6 feet or 60 feet it all has to do with air flow and the time you are exposed to someone ....... MIT blew that appart last week


----------



## my-thyme

my-thyme said:


> We were supposed to wear masks outside? Guess I didn't get that memo, no wonder I get the stink eye in the grocery parking lot.


Seriously, I didn't know this was "law", I had heard it, thought they were considering it, then threw it out as a stupid idea.

Because it is a stupid idea. 

Niece in CA was always posting pictures of she, hubby, and 3 little kids hiking with their masks on. I would just shake my head and not comment. 

My apologies to anyone I offended in the Giant parking lot, and thank you for protecting us both and staying 6 ft away from me. (Do I need to add ?)


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...



herb749 said:


> I read a comment about why people are not getting a vaccine. Why get one if I still have to wear a mask. Is there no confidence in this vaccine that I still have to wear one .?
> 
> I'm not buying the you can still be a carrier of it with being 99% safe from it with a vaccine. Can I carry it on a tiny part of my eye brow .?


When people ask me if I've had the "vaccine", I tell them, "Nope, I'm in the clinical control group not getting the experimental solution". The looks I get. Whew!


----------



## GURPS

*Edwards rolls back Louisiana mask mandate, limits locations*


The Democratic governor’s decision to roll back the mask mandate he enacted in July is at odds with the recommendations of President Joe Biden’s administration, but puts him more in line with other Southern state leaders who have either ended their statewide face covering requirement or never enacted one at all.

The new rules starting Wednesday will require people in Louisiana to wear masks on public transit and in health care facilities, daycare centers, K-12 schools, colleges and universities. A face covering will be required in some state buildings as well, as decided by the leaders in charge of the building. Edwards said all buildings under his administration’s control will require masks, including the three floors that house his offices in the Louisiana Capitol.


----------



## GURPS

*Maskholes Prove Exactly What Conservatives Have Been Saying All Along*


















These maskholes are attempting to guilt people into wearing a mask. Despite numerous “orders” (CDC, State, County) I have not worn a mask outdoors, at all, since June of last year. Recently, while at the gas station, a man approached me demanding I put on a mask to protect everyone else around me.  I asked him why he felt that he could enter my 6 feet of social distancing space to get in my face, asking me to put on a mask while outdoors. Infuriated, he squawked about how I just wanted to kill people and I didn’t care for anyone else around me. To him, I was right up there with Mussolini. He went further to say that the majority of the problems we were having were because people won’t mask up.


Enter science and data.

I asked him if that were the case, why didn’t Florida have the most per-capita cases in the country?  Dumbfounded, he said that “thousands” were dying from exposure in Florida still. (No, they aren’t.) He insisted that the states with the worst numbers for COVID were Republican-run states.   I then asked him which of the states had the worst numbers.  “SOUTH DAKOTA!” he screamed in my face.  “They don’t have a mask mandate and they have more deaths by population than any other state.”

Knowing that was factually inaccurate, I asked him how much he was willing to bet that South Dakota wasn’t even in the top five of worst states.  Practically having a stroke by this point, my maskhole sparring partner told me that South Dakota was one of the top states in the country, even when not factoring for the population.  “They are either first or second in deaths per capita,” he asserted.  Due to this amazing invention called the internet, I pulled up World-o-Meter’s COVID-19 statistics on my phone and read them out loud to him.  Sorting the data by deaths per million population, it showed that the top 3 were all blue states.  I showed him on my phone that not only did South Dakota not make the top five, it barely made the top 10, coming in tenth per capita, and 41st in the nation for overall deaths.  As I continued to show him this data, he was now standing right next to me reading my phone.  “See!” he continued, “it is because they don’t have a mask mandate.”


----------



## GURPS

*Analysis: The CDC Can't Stop Undermining Its Own Credibility*


Earlier in the week, we gave the CDC half a cheer for its impending, if embarrassingly belated, changes to guidance on outdoor masking. The new guidance finally arrived on Tuesday. It is profoundly underwhelming, to put it kindly. One science-based reality is that outdoor transmission of COVID is vanishingly rare – almost non-existent – even among unvaccinated people. Another science-based reality is that the vaccines work incredibly well, offering robust immunity. The notion that the CDC is still recommending that _fully vaccinated_ people wear masks in some _outdoor_ settings is untethered from the data, and yet again sends the counter-productive signal that maybe the vaccines don't work. They really truly do, of course, but that's not what the Powers That Be repeatedly insist on conveying. National Review's Phil Klein wrote a succinct and scathing post about the new CDC rules, calling them "a joke:" 




> To be clear, *the science was overwhelming last year that the risk of outdoor transmission of COVID-19 was low to non-existent. Anybody following the science should have never felt compelled to wear a mask outdoors during the pandemic.* Furthermore, somebody who is fully vaccinated is at minimal risk of catching COVID-19 indoors or outdoors. Earlier this month, the CDC itself reported that out of a universe of 66 million individuals who were vaccinated at the time, just 5,800 got the virus. *That’s less than 1-in-10,000. The idea that the CDC, even in loosening outdoor mask guidance, is still insisting that vaccinated people wear masks in crowded outdoor settings is completely unmoored from science or reason. This is a bungling agency that has made one mistake after another throughout the pandemic*...It would be easy to say that every American should just ignore the CDC, because the people running it have exposed themselves as unserious people. But the problem is that *state and local officials as well as private business often defer to CDC guidance. *So if you live in a Faucistan sector of the United States, your daily life is likely still going to be affected by whatever the CDC decides to cook up.




Contributing to the problem is the fanfare with which government officials munificently bestow new "allowances" upon millions of Americans who have already been engaging in the newly-permitted actions for months. There's a massive disconnect between the elites making preposterous decisions and the lived experience of actual people. For instance, the fresh guidance says that "fully vaccinated Americans can go without masks outdoors when walking, jogging or biking outdoors, or dining with friends at outdoor restaurants." Many, many people (including some people on the cautious end of the spectrum) have been eating with friends at outdoor restaurants for the last nine months, well before vaccines were available. For the government to announce in late April 2021, "_congratulations_, _you may now dine outdoors with other people if you're vaccinated" _is self-discrediting because it understandably sounds ludicrous to huge swaths of the country. Do they hear themselves? Do they have any idea how people have been living? I share Ben Shapiro's exasperation about this:


----------



## Sneakers

I have to wonder if this "guidance" is biased by the longevity of the vaccine.  We've been told it's valid anything from 3 months to a year.  So what happens when it's not effective anymore?  Return to wearing a mask?  That ain't gonna happen, and they know it, so they tell us to keep wearing it instead of wearing it, not wearing it, and then tell us to wear it again until you get more shots.  Just easier to tell us to keep wearing a mask.


----------



## GURPS

*Even This CNN Medical Analyst Thinks Biden's Gone Too Far on the Masking*


The president encouraged Americans to get vaccinated early on in his speech, and touted his administration's accomplishments in that area. "Everyone over the age of 16, everyone – is now eligible and can get vaccinated right away. So get vaccinated now." Another line of his was that "our progress these past 100 days against one of the worst pandemics in history is one of the greatest logistical achievements our country has ever seen."

That may seem like a good segue to Biden detailing what else he's done for the first 100 days. But it lacks substance, and, more importantly, truly meaningful encouragement when it comes to getting vaccinated so that Americans can get back to normal.

Dr. Wen also writes, with added emphasis:



> The 200 attendees entered the 1,600-person-capacity House chamber spaced apart and wearing masks. *Some appeared to be double-maske*d. They were asked not to make physical contact, though some still fist-bumped or shook hands. There were markers indicating which seats could be occupied, with numerous empty spaces in between. As the president spoke, the vice president and speaker of the House sat behind him, both clad in masks.
> If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this was six months ago, before Americans had access to safe, highly effective vaccines.


President Biden isn't the only subject of Dr. Wen's criticism, but the CDC as well. In addition to calling the CDC guidance "the problem" she writes:



> How incredible are [vaccines]? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest report, there were only 7,157 breakthrough infections among 87 million fully vaccinated people — a rate of 0.008 percent.
> 
> Of course, you wouldn’t know that the vaccines are so effective by looking at the CDC’s overly-cautious guidelines. Already, a very damaging narrative is taking hold: If the vaccines are so effective, then why so many precautions for the fully vaccinated? What’s the point of getting inoculated if not much changes?


----------



## Tech

GURPS said:


> *Maskholes Prove Exactly What Conservatives Have Been Saying All Along*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Be careful of citing World o meters site. While the numbers for Maryland is the same as the state's official numbers, the numbers for Florida is way off. The site cites dozens of new daily deaths but Florida's official site only states a handful.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> These maskholes are attempting to guilt people into wearing a mask. Despite numerous “orders” (CDC, State, County) I have not worn a mask outdoors, at all, since June of last year. Recently, while at the gas station, a man approached me demanding I put on a mask to protect everyone else around me.  I asked him why he felt that he could enter my 6 feet of social distancing space to get in my face, asking me to put on a mask while outdoors. Infuriated, he squawked about how I just wanted to kill people and I didn’t care for anyone else around me. To him, I was right up there with Mussolini. He went further to say that the majority of the problems we were having were because people won’t mask up.
> 
> 
> Enter science and data.
> 
> I asked him if that were the case, why didn’t Florida have the most per-capita cases in the country?  Dumbfounded, he said that “thousands” were dying from exposure in Florida still. (No, they aren’t.) He insisted that the states with the worst numbers for COVID were Republican-run states.   I then asked him which of the states had the worst numbers.  “SOUTH DAKOTA!” he screamed in my face.  “They don’t have a mask mandate and they have more deaths by population than any other state.”
> 
> Knowing that was factually inaccurate, I asked him how much he was willing to bet that South Dakota wasn’t even in the top five of worst states.  Practically having a stroke by this point, my maskhole sparring partner told me that South Dakota was one of the top states in the country, even when not factoring for the population.  “They are either first or second in deaths per capita,” he asserted.  Due to this amazing invention called the internet, I pulled up World-o-Meter’s COVID-19 statistics on my phone and read them out loud to him.  Sorting the data by deaths per million population, it showed that the top 3 were all blue states.  I showed him on my phone that not only did South Dakota not make the top five, it barely made the top 10, coming in tenth per capita, and 41st in the nation for overall deaths.  As I continued to show him this data, he was now standing right next to me reading my phone.  “See!” he continued, “it is because they don’t have a mask mandate.”





Be careful of citing World o meters site. While the numbers for Maryland is the same as the state's official numbers, the numbers for Florida is way off. The site cites dozens of new daily deaths but Florida's official site only states a handful.


----------



## GURPS

*D.C. Mayor Quietly Lifts Mask Requirements For Fully Vaccinated People, Even Indoors*


The mayor’s office released updated guidance relating to masks in the District, with particular focus on those who have received both dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In the section titled “Special Rules for Persons Who are Fully Vaccinated,” the new guidance states that unless someone is showing COVID-19 symptoms or has been diagnosed with the disease, a fully vaccinated person can:



_Gather indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask or staying six feet apart;_
_Gather indoors with unvaccinated people of any age from one other household (for example, visiting with relatives who all live together) without masks or staying six feet apart, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19;_
_Gather or conduct activities outdoors without wearing a mask except in crowded settings or venues;_
_Travel in the United States without pre-departure, post-arrival, or post-return testing for COVID-19, unless exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19;_
_Resume activities following travel without need to self-quarantine;_
_Travel internationally without getting tested beforehand or self-quarantining afterwards, unless the destination country requires such testing before arrival. However, even fully vaccinated persons must: (a) show a negative test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before boarding an international flight to the United States; and (b) get tested for COVID-19 three to five days after return from international travel._
_Continue activities following exposure to someone with COVID-19, without need for testing or self-quarantine, unless the vaccinated person is symptomatic for COVID-19 or lives in a group setting such as a correctional institution, congregate care facility, or other group home, in which case self-quarantine for 14 days and testing are still required; and_
_Be exempt from routine screening test requirements at any facility or among any group, unless they show symptoms of COVID-19 and unless the rules of that organization require screenings tests, notwithstanding vaccination status._

The new guidance also has specific rules for wearing masks indoors:


_Persons other than those who are fully vaccinated must wear a mask in the common areas of apartments, condominiums and cooperatives when passing through for a fleeting time. For events or longer stays in such common areas, even fully vaccinated people must continue to wear masks._
_Businesses, office buildings, and other establishments open to members of the public shall post signage on their exterior doors stating that a person may not enter unless the person is wearing a mask or is fully vaccinated. In addition, the business, office building, or other establishment shall exclude or attempt to eject persons who are not wearing masks or who remove their required masks, except in circumstances where the person is fully vaccinated and is permitted to conduct their activities without wearing a mask…_
_Employers shall provide masks to their employees and may establish rules for mask wearing at their offices or facilities that are more stringent than the rules set forth herein._
_Businesses and other institutions are authorized to request to see someone’s vaccine card or other adequate proof of vaccination to verify whether they need to wear a mask within the establishment or at the event, consistent with any applicable federal or local law._
_If a business or other institution should require vaccination for admittance, registration, or employment, it must provide exceptions for those who are medically unable to be vaccinated and admit such persons, provided they are wearing a mask, on the other terms afforded to persons who are able to be vaccinated and who have been vaccinated, and must make such other accommodations for those whose sincerely held religious beliefs forbid them from being vaccinated. However, any one-time donation or incentive for those who are fully vaccinated need not be provided to those who are exempt from vaccination for medical or religious reasons._


----------



## GURPS

*This Data On Masked Vs Unmasked Schools Will Be Ignored By The Mask Cult*



The amount of data collected here, although not exhaustive, seems surprisingly voluminous and impressive:



> When we launched the dashboard in early September, our first announcement included about 100,000 in-person students. All of the data in that wave came from schools and districts that opted-in to the study to provide their information. These data provided a first, early look at case rates in schools. The sample was selected, yes, but it provided a first look at case rates in schools.
> The most recent wave of data, covering early February, includes about 12 million students, of whom 6 million were in-person (this is about 20% of all school enrollment in the US). At this stage of the process, we still collect data from districts and schools who opt-in. But we’re also pulling in comprehensive data at either the school or district level from a number of states (New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Florida). The result is data with less geographic balance but significantly more representativeness (and many more observations).




























						This Data On Masked Vs Unmasked Schools Will Be Ignored By The Mask Cult
					






					townhall.com


----------



## kom526

NJ school nurse suspended after pushing back on mask mandate, says it's ‘child abuse'
					

A New Jersey school nurse has been suspended for refusing to wear a mask and argued it’s severely “harming students.”




					www.foxnews.com


----------



## TPD

You can’t make this stuff up if you tried. And babylonbee has been trying.


----------



## Sneakers

I'd wear a mask too if I had to kiss her.


----------



## RoseRed

TPD said:


> You can’t make this stuff up if you tried. And babylonbee has been trying.



I saw this earlier today.


----------



## stgislander

Sneakers said:


> I'd wear a mask too if I had to kiss her.


----------



## stgislander

Okay Larry.  Let's get going.









						West Virginia to lift statewide mask mandate on June 20
					

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia will lift its statewide mask mandate on June 20 after state officials projected more than two-thirds of eligible residents will be vaccinated against the coronavirus by then, Gov...




					apnews.com


----------



## GURPS

*Hysterical Man Harasses Pregnant Woman In Grocery Store For No Mask, Scolds Her For ‘So Much Privilege’*


The woman calmly waves, only irritating the already emotional man. “You’re on candid camera. Here we go. I want you to know that your insensitivity is ridiculous,” he scolded her.

He then equated her maskless face with the deaths of his grandparents. “I no longer have grandparents due to this virus because of people like you, who don’t wanna wear a mask in a store!”

“I’m sorry, but it’s none of your business why I’m not wearing a mask,” the woman starts to say.


----------



## TPD

I was just told 20 mins ago by an employee not to come back into a store in Ridge since I couldn't wear a mask.   I've been playing this game with this particular business for a year now, but they haven't learned.  My daughter observed a health department inspector this morning in another business in Ridge doing food inspection while the employee was not wearing his mask properly.  Daughter stated it took health inspector a couple of minutes before asking employee to put mask on properly.  That business is still open this evening, but if it had been Ridge Hardware, we would have been closed down by now....

This BS needs to end now!


----------



## RoseRed

TPD said:


> I was just told 20 mins ago by an employee not to come back into a store in Ridge since I couldn't wear a mask.   I've been playing this game with this particular business for a year now, but they haven't learned.  My daughter observed a health department inspector this morning in another business in Ridge doing food inspection while the employee was not wearing his mask properly.  Daughter stated it took health inspector a couple of minutes before asking employee to put mask on properly.  That business is still open this evening, but if it had been Ridge Hardware, we would have been closed down by now....
> 
> This BS needs to end now!


The new Italian place?


----------



## TPD

RoseRed said:


> The new Italian place?


no it wasn't that business.  

Speaking of that, surprised no one has mentioned our new Italian eatery in Ridge.  Apparently it's not bad.  I haven't tried it yet.  And I have good information that we will have a hot dog truck in Ridge by Memorial Day.  Ridge will soon be the foodie destination!


----------



## RoseRed

TPD said:


> no it wasn't that business.
> 
> Speaking of that, surprised no one has mentioned our new Italian eatery in Ridge.  Apparently it's not bad.  I haven't tried it yet.  And I have good information that we will have a hot dog truck in Ridge by Memorial Day.  Ridge will soon be the foodie destination!


I haven't heard any reviews yet.


----------



## Kyle

RoseRed said:


> I haven't heard any reviews yet.


If you've been to one hot dog truck, you've been to them all.


----------



## my-thyme

RoseRed said:


> The new Italian place?


Ok, so, where is this?


----------



## Sneakers

my-thyme said:


> Ok, so, where is this?


----------



## TPD

my-thyme said:


> Ok, so, where is this?


In the Chinese liquor store next to DG.


----------



## my-thyme

Wait a minute, is it still a Chinese liquor store?

Gotta love America!


----------



## TPD

my-thyme said:


> Wait a minute, is it still a Chinese liquor store?
> 
> Gotta love America!


Well that's what some of us locals call it.  Is that racist?  So for those not familiar, I will clarify - some people with origins in China own and operate the liquor store, that was once a grocery store, in Ridge.  Those same people are now leasing their deli area to some people of Italian origins I am assuming, since they are serving Italian cuisine.


----------



## my-thyme

Very cool. I'll have to ride doŵn and try it.


----------



## GURPS

*Former FDA Boss Tells CBS It’s Time to End Mask Mandates in 'Wholesale Fashion'*


Noting that “COVID won't disappear” and “we're going to have to learn to live with it,” Gottlieb pointed out the fact that “the risk is substantially reduced as a result of vaccination, as a result of immunity that people have required there prior infection.”

And from there, he announced: “I think we’re at a point in time where we can start lifting these ordinances in a wholesale fashion. And people have to take precautions based on their individual risk.”

Gottlieb cited the science that said half the country was seeing 10 cases for every 100,000 people with 25 percent projected to be at five for 100,000 by the coming week. “So, we’re at the point where we can start lifting these ordinances and allowing people to resume normal activities. Certainly, outdoors we shouldn't be putting limits on gatherings anymore,” he declared. “I think we can start lifting these restrictions indoors as well on a broad basis.”

Dickerson followed up by asking his guest to help viewers calculate their own relative risk and the doctor noted that the science tells us that “you can start resuming normal activity” because of the high efficacy of the vaccines. “The data now does support that. So, we could start drawing some firm conclusions and basing our public health advice on that.”


----------



## Sneakers

GURPS said:


> And from there, he announced: “I think we’re at a point in time where we can start lifting these ordinances in a wholesale fashion. And people have to take precautions based on their individual risk.”


At this point, Covid-19 is on par with every other flu virus out there.  It is apparently here to stay, just like the other flu variants.  You get a shot yearly or not.  People might get sick and die, or not.  Happens every year and has for many many years.  

Time to get back to pre-Covid normality.


----------



## Kyle




----------



## GURPS

*Mask Hysteria*




*Time To End The Mask Idiocy*

Here’s the thing – masks are stupid and are part of the bizarre virtue signaling theater that has infected our culture. From laughable security checks at airports to attempts to police language, our society has decided that it’s the presentation that matters and the reality, well, that’s racist or something.

Masks are silly, in general. The insane mask performance art rules governing them are even sillier. Walking through a restaurant, you must drape a towel over your lips. Sitting at your chair, not so much. Masks protect you in the big box stores of Dem corporate donors, but not in churches. And you must wear them outside too, unless you are that malignant dwarf Fauci at a baseball game. He doesn’t need to. Kids, who won’t catch it, must do it in schools to protect their useless public school teachers, who won’t teach anyway.

It’s all stupid, and I won’t play.

There are vaccines all over the place now. If you want one – and I don’t care if you do or you don’t get one – you can get one. And if you get one, the best information is that you won’t get the disease – which, incidentally, is not that bad in the first place if you are not within one of the high-risk categories. I know – I had it.


----------



## GURPS

*Don Lemon Tells Liberals: ‘Believe In The Science,’ Take Off Your Mask*


“This is real,” Lemon said on Monday night. “People are having trouble re-emerging into society after COVID-19 lockdowns.”

Why would anyone want to live in the “new normal”? Chris Cuomo blamed the narrative of continued coercion and control emanating from Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Biden administration’s CDC.



> _Cuomo: This messaging about the vaccine has not been good enough. They still make you feel like it’s not like every other vaccine that you’ve ever had in your life where, you may still get it, [but] you should still wear a mask; you can still have enough to be contagious; you can still spread it. You know, I get why people like your mom and my mom did not feel the confidence that we were supposed to have in getting this vaccine.
> Lemon: Yes, messaging.
> Cuomo: And I still don’t think they are allowing these numbers and the science to rule, and they are giving people vaccines even more latitude.
> Lemon: Yes._



Lemon concluded by telling audience members who were afraid to leave the house: “You’ve got to believe in the science. You’ve got to believe in facts. And you’ve got to believe in reality.”

We welcome Don Lemon’s statement that facts don’t care about your feelings. We hope it informs the rest of his reporting. And we hope he gets to hug his mother soon.






Hey Dumb Ass ..... SCIENCE has been telling us for months MASKS And Social Distancing WAS USLESS for Preventing Covid Spread


----------



## GURPS

*Joe Biden Unveils His Big Distraction*






Now, to be clear, the above guidance still spits in the face of science. There is no evidence that large outdoor gatherings like sporting events are dangerous. In fact, we have overwhelming data that shows spread is basically non-existent in those settings. The same is true for a variety of things listed above that non-vaccinated people are supposed to wear a mask for. In fact, the CDC’s own data pointedly shows that masks essentially don’t work, with them only finding a 1% chance in infections between masked mandated and non-mask mandated areas.

Regardless, this change in guidance is a sharp turn from where the CDC was just a few weeks ago.







That chart basically required vaccinated people to still wear masks in all situations. What changed? Absolutely nothing changed insofar as the science goes. We’ve known since the beginning that the vaccines are highly effective and that mask-wearing, to the extent it could ever be justified, was certainly no longer necessary. Rather, what this flip-flop was about is the current political dynamics we are facing.

Joe Biden and the Democrats sense the coming backlash. They are watching an economy that was on cruise control burn to the ground as inflation swallows any gains people have made. The Middle East is descending into a new round of chaos after a relative peace had settled under Donald Trump. Gas prices have shot up over 50% since Biden took office. People are hurting, and the pain is getting worse.

Partisanship only takes people so far, and you can only scream about the orange man or Liz Cheney for so long before people get sick of it and want real issues dealt with. Joe Biden is not capable of handling anything, much less the current malaise the country is sinking into. In fact, he’s the cause of it.


----------



## Hijinx

GURPS said:


> Joe Biden and the Democrats sense the coming backlash. They are watching an economy that was on cruise control burn to the ground as inflation swallows any gains people have made. The Middle East is descending into a new round of chaos after a relative peace had settled under Donald Trump. Gas prices have shot up over 50% since Biden took office. People are hurting, and the pain is getting worse.
> 
> Partisanship only takes people so far, and you can only scream about the orange man or Liz Cheney for so long before people get sick of it and want real issues dealt with. Joe Biden is not capable of handling anything, much less the current malaise the country is sinking into. In fact, he’s the cause of it.



Democrats other than the politicians they choose are getting sick of this mess too.
Who would ever believe that in 4 months they could do so much damage?


----------



## Kyle

Hijinx said:


> Who would ever believe that in 4 months they could do so much damage?



Obama was their practice run.


----------



## GURPS

*Republicans Question Timing of CDC Mask Announcement*



“While the new mask guidance is encouraging, the CDC and my Far Radical Left colleagues only chose to do this to distract from the consequences of catastrophic policy decisions that have been heard around the world," said GOP Rep. Andy Biggs. "Inflation is rising, the Middle East is in shambles, the working class can’t fill up their gas tanks, our border is being overrun and the Biden Administration’s leadership is nowhere to be found."


----------



## RareBreed

I have a co-worker who started wearing a mask since the day it was announced that people should wear masks. Then she wore TWO masks the day after it was announced that people should double mask. In my office, she was the only one who worn one. She would wear it her entire 8 hours shift and as soon as it started loosening, she'd be tightening it. It took us all a hot minute today to realize that she isn't wearing her mask anymore because it was announced that masks weren't needed.

I can't imagine going through life not thinking for myself and doing what the TV/media tells me to do. So suddenly after a year and a half, the rest of us don't have Covid cooties anymore and she feels safe around us??


----------



## Kyle

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on new CDC guidelines: Need to 'rewire' myself to not see unmasked people as 'a threat'

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said Thursday she would need to "rewire" herself to no longer look at unmasked people as a "threat" in response to relaxed federal guidelines for vaccinated persons.

"The ‘patience’ message is a good one, but I live just over the river where over half the adult population has been vaccinated for a long time," he tweeted. "You're just now coming around to the idea that someone without a mask may be responsible. And only because a federal agency said as much?"










						MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on new CDC guidelines: Need to 'rewire' myself to not see unmasked people as 'a threat'
					

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said Thursday she would need to “rewire” herself to no longer look at unmasked people as a “threat” in response to relaxed federal guidelines for vaccinated persons.




					www.foxnews.com


----------



## GURPS

Democrats REFUSE To Remove Masks Following CDC Guidelines Over Fear Of Being Seen As Conservative. Democrat Eric Swalwell got into an altercation with a staffer for Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene after he said "Biden said you can take the mask off"


----------



## GURPS

*‘You Don’t Tell Me What To F**king Do!’: Eric Swalwell Rebuffs Marjorie Taylor Greene Aide For Telling Him He Can Ditch His Mask*


----------



## GURPS

*But It's Not Political, Right? David Hogg Says He'll Continue to Wear Masks Just so People Don't Think He's a 'Conservative'*


Remember how the left kept telling everyone that mask wearing wasn’t a political statement? Well, when it rains it pours with activist and failed pillow entrepreneur David Hogg.

Hogg tweeted on Friday morning that despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) updated guideline that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks, the guy who only got into Harvard because of who he was rather than his qualifications says that he’ll continue to wear a mask because it’s “more than worth it” if people don’t think he’s a conservative for not wearing one.

Yeah, that’s an actual thing he thought was a good idea to tweet.


----------



## stgislander

I'm astounded that anyone follows him on Twitter.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on new CDC guidelines: Need to 'rewire' myself to not see unmasked people as 'a threat'*


Following months of criticism, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that vaccinated people could ditch masks in nearly all circumstances. While met with relief and calls like "it's about damn time" from Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, some liberal figures fretted about the sudden shift.

"I feel like I'm going to have to rewire myself so that when I see someone out in the world who's not wearing a mask, I don't instantly think, ‘You are a threat,’" Maddow said. "Or you are selfish or you are a Covid denier and you definitely haven't been vaccinated. I mean, we're going to have to rewire the way that we look at each other."


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*Many of us are allowed to take off our masks: Why some of us don't want to*


Masks have offered safety during unprecedented times. They were also divisive and often signaled to which political group you belonged, with studies showing that Republicans were less likely than Democrats to wear or believe in the efficacy of masks. 

Wearing a mask meant you were adhering to the CDC and local mandates. The act of stripping off these masks will feel foreign and uneasy for some, and that reaction is not unexpected, experts say. 

"Behaviors take time to implement and adopt. They also take time to un-adopt," says Abraar Karan, an internal medicine physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "Remember, it's not an on and off switch."




What a bunch of scared little bitches


----------



## GURPS

*Trader Joes, Costco, Walmart To End Mask Requirement For Vaccinated Customers*


Fully vaccinated people can throw off their masks when shopping at Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Costco.

In separate announcements on Friday, the companies invited shoppers who have taken the vaccine to come to their stores without wearing masks, in accordance with CDC guidelines. However, the stores say they will comply with any state or local mandates.


----------



## GURPS

*Don't Have That Mask-Burning Party Quite Yet*


The CDC may have lifted it’s mask guidance for indoor and outdoor activity, but there is a whole slew of exceptions and the public health bureaucrats have left it up to individual states, companies, and places of employment to determine whether to require masks or not.

Hawaii will still require you to wear a mask while on the islands. Kroger grocery stores announced that their mask policy will remain unchanged. Many other cities and localities are reviewing the CDC guidelines before giving a green light to their subjects on whether they can ditch the mask.

You will still have to wear a mask on buses, trains, and planes. Hospitals and nursing homes, prisons, homeless shelters — all will still require that you wear a mask.


----------



## Sneakers

GURPS said:


> Fully vaccinated people can throw off their masks when shopping at Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Costco.


And since they can't check every single person coming thru the door, no one will wear a mask, vaccinated or not.


----------



## Hijinx

Sneakers said:


> And since they can't check every single person coming thru the door, no one will wear a mask, vaccinated or not.



Who gives a damn. Those who are not vaccinated are allegedly not able to inflict Covid on those that are, if they want to take their own chances that is their  problem.


----------



## GURPS

Sneakers said:


> And since they can't check every single person coming thru the door, no one will wear a mask, vaccinated or not.




and anyone wearing a mask is a virtue signaling progressive who does not want to be seen as a Conservative


----------



## Sneakers

Hijinx said:


> Who gives a damn. Those who are not vaccinated are allegedly not able to inflict Covid on those that are, if they want to take their own chances that is their  problem.


You missed my point.  No one is going to mask, and that's the way it should be.


----------



## Hijinx

Sneakers said:


> You missed my point.  No one is going to mask, and that's the way it should be.



It never should have gone over the alleged 2 weeks.


----------



## PeoplesElbow

Sneakers said:


> You missed my point.  No one is going to mask, and that's the way it should be.


Man I was out at Ollie's earlier and everyone had one on but me and I was getting the major stink eye.

Today marks two weeks since my second dose btw.


----------



## Sneakers

I am truly surprised at the number of people who are still masking in spite of the guidance, and the number of businesses still requiring masks.  

Although, while many people walking around Solomons had masks, No One  at the wine fest did.  And they were packed in there.


----------



## RoseRed

Sneakers said:


> I am truly surprised at the number of people who are still masking in spite of the guidance, and the number of businesses still requiring masks.
> 
> Although, while many people walking around Solomons had masks, No One  at the wine fest did.  And they were packed in there.


Did you see my Sistard?


----------



## kwillia

I think the mandate to mask if inside and not able to social distance is still in effect. I spotted it on Facebook but didn’t snag it and now can’t get back to it.


----------



## Sneakers

RoseRed said:


> Did you see my Sistard?


I did not partake.  And its been many years, wouldn't recognize her if I tripped over her.


----------



## Sneakers

kwillia said:


> I think the mandate to mask if inside and not able to social distance is still in effect. I spotted it on Facebook but didn’t snag it and now can’t get back to it.


If you are fully vaccinated, no longer applies unless the business mandates it.


----------



## TPD

kwillia said:


> I think the mandate to mask if inside and not able to social distance is still in effect. I spotted it on Facebook but didn’t snag it and now can’t get back to it.


According to our governor in Maryland the mask mandate is null and void unless in school, health care, or public transportation. Not sure why there has been so much confusion today.


----------



## RoseRed

TPD said:


> According to our governor in Maryland the mask mandate is null and void unless in school, health care, or public transportation. Not sure why there has been so much confusion today.


Wasn't the magic hour at 5pm?


----------



## TPD

RoseRed said:


> Wasn't the magic hour at 5pm?


I never read that And I asked some people who watched the press conference and they said they never heard that time either


----------



## RoseRed

TPD said:


> I never read that And I asked some people who watched the press conference and they said they never heard that time either


I seem to recall that was always the witching hour when the rules would change.


----------



## TPD

RoseRed said:


> I seem to recall that was always the witching hour when the rules would change.


Yeah that’s right - science! 
I think hogan was backed into a corner with this once CDC changed its guidelines so he just said screw it let’s do it.


----------



## Kyle

TPD said:


> According to our governor in Maryland the mask mandate is null and void unless in school, health care, or public transportation. Not sure why there has been so much confusion today.


There's been so much nonsense with this mask crap I think people are reluctant to move foreword. 

It'll probably take a couple of weeks for everyone to sort things out masks to go away.


----------



## RoseRed

TPD said:


> Yeah that’s right - science!
> I think hogan was backed into a corner with this once CDC changed its guidelines so he just said screw it let’s do it.


Same as standing and walking through a restaurant.


----------



## RoseRed

Kyle said:


> There's been so much nonsense with this mask crap I think people are reluctant to move foreword.
> 
> It'll probably take a couple of weeks for everyone to sort things out masks to go away.


I saved my trip to Tractor Supply for tomorrow so I can see what happens.


----------



## kwillia

RoseRed said:


> Same as standing and walking through a restaurant.


A bar full of maskless people talking and laughing but the moment you stand up you must put on the mask. Never did make sense.


----------



## RoseRed

kwillia said:


> A bar full of maskless people talking and laughing but the moment you stand up you must put on the mask. Never did make sense.


I haven't been in a bar for over a year but I have been in a few restaurants.  Silly rule. I always "forgot" to put it back on to leave.


----------



## kwillia

Hogan sure loves the spotlight... this just in


----------



## Kyle

RoseRed said:


> I saved my trip to Tractor Supply for tomorrow so I can see what happens.


I have to drive up to Frederick tomorrow so I'll see how things are up there.


----------



## RoseRed

kwillia said:


> Hogan sure loves the spotlight... this just in


Gee, thanks Larry!


----------



## PrchJrkr

GURPS said:


> *But It's Not Political, Right? David Hogg Says He'll Continue to Wear Masks Just so People Don't Think He's a 'Conservative'*
> 
> 
> Remember how the left kept telling everyone that mask wearing wasn’t a political statement? Well, when it rains it pours with activist and failed pillow entrepreneur David Hogg.
> 
> Hogg tweeted on Friday morning that despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) updated guideline that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks, the guy who only got into Harvard because of who he was rather than his qualifications says that he’ll continue to wear a mask because it’s “more than worth it” if people don’t think he’s a conservative for not wearing one.
> 
> Yeah, that’s an actual thing he thought was a good idea to tweet.



Believe me Mr. Pantywaist, no one would ever look at you and see anything other than a sniveling liberal bitch boy.


----------



## TPD

Just got back from dinner at Pax Ale House. Walk inside and 5 people waiting for a table, all masked. All employees masked. Everyone except one that I saw walk in while we were seated was masked. We were not asked to mask. I finally asked one of the servers why they were still masked. She said it would probably be a couple more weeks before the boss allowed them to take them off.  SMH 

My employees should kiss my feet everyday I walk in the door!


----------



## GURPS

Sheep


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...



Sneakers said:


> I am truly surprised at the number of people who are still masking in spite of the guidance,...


I'm amazed that "guidance" somehow became law, or a rule, to follow, and people actually did follow. I've been back to normal since the beginning of this fiasco never following any such "guidance".


----------



## Hijinx

TPD said:


> Just got back from dinner at Pax Ale House. Walk inside and 5 people waiting for a table, all masked. All employees masked. Everyone except one that I saw walk in while we were seated was masked. We were not asked to mask. I finally asked one of the servers why they were still masked. She said it would probably be a couple more weeks before the boss allowed them to take them off.  SMH
> 
> My employees should kiss my feet everyday I walk in the door!



Maybe if you washed them more often.


----------



## PeoplesElbow

You know I'm thinking it wasn't so much politicians causing the problems as much as it was an overly zealous medical community that had the ear of politicians and a news industry wanting to be relevant. 



			https://www.yahoo.com/news/nurses-union-calls-cdc-revise-035102164.html


----------



## Hijinx

PeoplesElbow said:


> You know I'm thinking it wasn't so much politicians causing the problems as much as it was an overly zealous medical community that had the ear of politicians and a news industry wanting to be relevant.
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/nurses-union-calls-cdc-revise-035102164.html



You probably have a good point. I don't know about the rest of the Medical Community , but this ass wipe Faucci needs to disappear and never be seen on TV or the media again.

As for me I have worn mine to the store for the last time. Take down the signs  store operators. *It's Over.*


----------



## my-thyme

Hijinx said:


> As for me I have worn mine to the store for the last time. Take down the signs  store operators. *It's Over.*


Yeah!


----------



## Kyle




----------



## GURPS

*The CDC Inadvertently Outs the Mask Cult*

This strange collection of secular zealots have zero scientific credibility.


In addition to a sense of vindication for those of us who object to post-vaccination masking, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky’s statement provided another much-needed service — it forced the metastasizing mask cult to reveal itself as a coalition of anti-science zealots and petty tyrants. A typical example of their collective response to the CDC guidance appeared in the _Washington Post_ under the title, “The CDC shouldn’t have removed restrictions without requiring proof of vaccination.”

Its author, former Planned Parenthood CEO Leana S. Wen, is a proponent of vaccine passports for routine activities such as retail shopping, restaurant dining, going to the theater, and working in a fully staffed office. Aside from the constitutional and legal issues raised by the kind of government-issued passports Dr. Wen advocates, her views aren’t shared by most Americans. A recent Gallup survey found that a mere 40 percent support vaccine passports for restaurant dining, and only 45 percent favor them in the workplace. The only activities for which majorities supported such passports were airplane travel and attendance at large public gatherings such as concerts. Dr. Wen isn’t satisfied with such modest limitations:



> The problem is this: You know what you’re doing, but you have no way to be confident of trusting everyone else. Let’s say you go the grocery store. It’s crowded and few people there are masked. Perhaps everyone is vaccinated, but perhaps not. What if you’re vaccinated but not fully protected because you’re immunocompromised? You can no longer count on CDC rules to help you keep safe. What if you don’t have child care, so you had to bring your kids along? They didn’t choose to remain unvaccinated — the shots aren’t available for them. Surely, it’s not fair to put them at risk.


----------



## Kyle

Latest Science Now Says We All Must Wear Masks To Prevent Global Warming
					

U.S.—A new study from very credible scientists has revealed that science wants everyone to continue to wear masks for the foreseeable future. This is due to brand new evidence from real science that masks actually prevent global warming.




					babylonbee.com


----------



## RoseRed

Kyle said:


> Latest Science Now Says We All Must Wear Masks To Prevent Global Warming
> 
> 
> U.S.—A new study from very credible scientists has revealed that science wants everyone to continue to wear masks for the foreseeable future. This is due to brand new evidence from real science that masks actually prevent global warming.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> babylonbee.com


Don't give them any ideas.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Orders a Mandate Against Mask Mandates – And It Gets Better From There*


Texas Governor Greg Abbott just threw down the gauntlet to any tin-pot water commissioner, mayor, or school board member who wants to keep Texans wrapped up in a mask. He’s turned COVID mask mandates on their ear by _prohibiting _mask mandates by any governmental entity in the state.

That’s right, it’s a mandate _against_ mask mandates.

He signed an emergency declaration on Tuesday announcing that Texans have a “liberty to choose” whether or not they’ll wear a mask.



> We can continue to mitigate COVID-19 while defending Texans’ liberty to choose whether or not they mask up.


Imagine that: an elected leader who believes individuals can conduct their own affairs in a waning pandemic.

But, wait, it gets better.

Just to make sure liberal Travis County mask scolds don’t try any funny stuff, Abbott’s new rule says any governmental outfit requiring masks _can be fined_ $1,000.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

Brzezinski “clarified” that some parts of the country may not yet be ready to return to normal, arguing that the fully vaccinated should wear a mask around the non-vaccinated, even though the scientific evidence shows that the fully vaccinated do not spread the disease.

“I hear everything you’re saying. I do think, though, there needs to be some clarity that there are some pockets of the country that may not be ready,” she responded. “I’m here in Washington. In many ways, I’m here doing ‘Know your value’ interviews, but I’m working with a team here, and there is one person on the team who is not vaccinated. I’m wearing a mask around that person. You know, it is, really, if you want to follow the science, then there are times you need to still wear the mask. And that’s where I think it gets really confusing as we try and move forward as a country and put this pandemic behind us.”


----------



## GURPS

*COVID19 grim reaper and N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy will keep indoor mask mandate in place ‘if we can save only one more life’ [video]*


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*Colorado Bus Driver Admits To Slapping 10-Year-Old Girl In Face Over Mask*

Bertram Jaquez, who has since been terminated, said in a written statement about the April incident that “Out of reaction, I slapped her once,” according to local KKTV.

Video obtained by the outlet depicts Jaquez arguing with the girl and demanding she wear her mask correctly. When she resists, he slaps her.

The girl recounted the incident for herself in a handwritten statement to the school, explaining that she didn’t want to wear the mask because it made her feel sick. She explained that after she had been slapped, she demanded to be let off the bus, but Jaquez kept driving.


----------



## GURPS

*Why Do So Many People Seem Disappointed That Mask Mandates Are Ending?*


“People who are vaccinated can do much more with less risk than those who are not,” the_ New York Times _concedes_. _“But vaccines do not offer 100 percent protection, and only about half of people in the region are fully vaccinated. As a result, some epidemiologists continue to recommend following the golden rules of coronavirus safety.”

But there is growing evidence that a fully vaccinated person has a better chance of getting hit by a car than catching COVID. And that puts the public health extremists in a bind.

We should mask up not to protect ourselves, not to demonstrate our political allegiance.

Reason:


> The fact that the _Times_ describes COVID-19 safeguards as “golden rules,” analogous to a timeless ethical principle, suggests that its advice is based on something other than rational, context-dependent concerns about virus transmission. Mask wearing and physical distancing, once presented as temporary responses to the pandemic that would no longer be necessary after the danger had passed, have been transformed into rituals that signify membership in a COVID-19 cult of caution.
> As _Reason_‘s Robby Soave notes, that cult has strong partisan overtones. “The mask was _supposed_ to be a temporary public health intervention,” he writes, “and it’s regrettable that for many people these little bands of cloth have become Team Blue’s version of the Make America Great Again hat.”


----------



## TPD

My beloved doctor is still wearing a mask even though she has been vaccinated.  Here is her answer why: (should be qued up at the 28:37 mark)


----------



## GURPS

*Masking misanthropy*


But the most common reason vaccinated people continue to wear masks, even after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they were unneeded and after states and localities have dropped their mask mandates and after major retailers have, too, is distrust.

The argument goes like this: _I am fully vaccinated, and I know masks don’t do anything for the fully vaccinated, but we’re now operating on the honor system. Over the past year of watching other people flout the social distancing rules I follow, I’ve come to trust people a lot less. So because I suspect many unmasked people are unvaccinated, I will continue to wear a mask for now._

The illogic here is manifold. For one thing, your mask is not there primarily to protect you, but to protect others from your exhalations. More importantly, if you are vaccinated, you are protected from any unvaccinated people who may be sick. The only people they are endangering are the other unvaccinated people.

A deep distrust of others trumps logic and science, though. So until we see other people as friends, neighbors, and children of God, expect to see less of other people's faces.


----------



## GURPS

*The People Behind The Masks*


While the novelty of going maskless is gradually fading, my curiosity about those who still wear their masks has been piqued—especially today when I happened to find myself behind someone who was double-masked in the check-out line of the supermarket.

Seriously? What the hell, lady?

I heard of people double masking, and I’ve even seen COVID-19 virtue-signallers post double-masking selfies on social media, but I’d never actually seen a double-masker in the wild—at least not where I noticed.

And yet I couldn’t help wondering, was this person not vaccinated yet? To put it delicately, this person was in a “high priority” group for getting vaccinated, so I found it hard to believe that she hasn’t been able to get vaccinated yet if she didn’t want to. But, hey, maybe she hasn’t, for various reasons that I can’t understand. But, still, generally speaking, a majority of people I encounter in public are still wearing masks… which I find bizarre.

Most reports will tell you that many people who aren’t getting vaccinated are Trump voters… which also happens to be the group most likely not to want to wear a mask.


----------



## GURPS

*Husband Reportedly Refuses to Remove Mask - Even During Sex With Wife*


When the CDC said that fully vaccinated people could now go without masks, one would think that those on the left who said “Follow the science” would have been happy. This meant they could drop the masks.

But instead, people who previously accepted the government dictates then refused to accept that one. Some refuse to accept that “science,” because it has been so ingrained in them that they need to wear them to be protected.

Perhaps nothing shows this more than a letter that was written into Slate by a woman asking for advice about her husband who refused to take off his mask. Even when they were in their home alone, even though both were fully vaccinated. He refused to take it off even when eating and sleeping, even when they were having sex, she said.


> “During the pandemic, his terror about getting sick has reached new levels. For the last year, he has refused to take off his face mask, even when we are at home—just the two of us. This is true even now that he is fully vaccinated for the virus.
> “He wears it to sleep, to do most of his bathroom activities, and, yes, even during lovemaking. To eat, he pulls it up to expose his mouth, and then quickly pulls it back down between bites. While he does not insist that I do the same, I can tell it bothers him that I don’t.”


----------



## Hijinx

GURPS said:


> *Husband Reportedly Refuses to Remove Mask - Even During Sex With Wife*
> 
> 
> When the CDC said that fully vaccinated people could now go without masks, one would think that those on the left who said “Follow the science” would have been happy. This meant they could drop the masks.
> 
> But instead, people who previously accepted the government dictates then refused to accept that one. Some refuse to accept that “science,” because it has been so ingrained in them that they need to wear them to be protected.
> 
> Perhaps nothing shows this more than a letter that was written into Slate by a woman asking for advice about her husband who refused to take off his mask. Even when they were in their home alone, even though both were fully vaccinated. He refused to take it off even when eating and sleeping, even when they were having sex, she said.



I could maybe uinderstand his asking his wife to wear a mask during sex, we used to call them two baggers.


----------



## stgislander

My neighbors' two kids had friends from the neighborhood over yesterday to play in the backyard.  The two were wearing masks in entire time the other kids were there.  

The wife and I were


----------



## GURPS

*'Follow the Science' Crashed and Burned With Pete Buttigieg's Reason for Continued Mask-Wearing for Air Travel*



Remember ‘follow the science’? Liberal America chanted that pervasively. It was part of the Left’s exhibition of their insufferable moral superiority complex. The problem was even the experts weren’t following the science. The COVID protocols on mask-wearing, activities post-vaccination, and social distancing especially venture into the realms of contradiction and absurdity. You cannot spread the virus if vaccinated, folks. That is a fact, though Dr. Anthony Fauci said we should still wear a mask post-vaccination. Where’s the science to back that up? there isn’t any, which is why he finally admitted his mask-wearing post-vaccination was an act of political theater. You can’t trust the science when the experts peddle lies in the hopes of keeping the general population in line. 

As soon as the CDC tweaked their mask requirements, liberal America suddenly became stalwarts of science fiction. We have people saying they’ll wear masks forever. It’s funny how conservatives were criticized for making masks into a political statement. Well, liberal America one-upped them on that aspect. Even liberals who merely ask for when mask mandates can expire are attacked by their own side. 

‘Put your mask on’ is dead, but liberals want to keep wearing them. It really doesn’t protect you, guys. I can speak from experience. You can still get COVID even if you’re wearing one, but the Left continues to act as if it’s a special shield. ‘We believe in science’…_until you don’t_.


----------



## HGMilstead

TPD said:


> My beloved doctor is still wearing a mask even though she has been vaccinated.  Here is her answer why: (should be qued up at the 28:37 mark)




Somebody should file a frivolous lawsuit against that doctor.


----------



## Gilligan

HGMilstead said:


> Somebody should file a frivolous lawsuit against that doctor.


I’ll help fund it.


----------



## GURPS

*'HUGE Legal Win': Florida Appeals Court Just Dealt A Devastating Blow To Forced Masking*


In overturning and sending back for reconsideration the decision of a circuit judge in favor of Alachua County's mask requirement, the 1st District Court of Appeal panel cited the state Supreme Court's interpretation of privacy rights "so broad as to include the complete freedom of a person to control his own body," Fox13 reported.



> A panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 decision, said Alachua County Circuit Judge Donna Keim did not properly consider the privacy rights of plaintiff Justin Green before she rejected a request for a temporary injunction against the mask requirement.
> 
> "The trial court simply looked at the right asserted by Green too narrowly, relying on the wrong privacy jurisprudence," said the 13-page majority opinion, written by Judge Adam Tanenbaum and joined by Judge Robert Long. "The right to be let alone by government does exist in Florida, as part of a right of privacy that our (Florida) Supreme Court has declared to be fundamental. … (The Supreme Court) has construed this fundamental right to be so broad as to include the complete freedom of a person to control his own body.





> Under this construction, a person reasonably can expect not to be forced by the government to put something on his own face against his will. Florida’s constitutional right to privacy, then, necessarily is implicated by the nature of the county’s mask mandate."
> The majority stopped short of declaring the Alachua County requirement unconstitutional but sent the case back to the lower court for reconsideration.


----------



## TPD

Just got back from a local restaurant. I would guess 25-30% of customers walked in with a mask on - mainly couples in their late 20s early 30s. UFB. Whatever makes them feel good I guess.


----------



## RoseRed

TPD said:


> Just got back from a local restaurant. I would guess 25-30% of customers walked in with a mask on - mainly couples in their late 20s early 30s. UFB. Whatever makes them feel good I guess.


Pier450?


----------



## TPD

RoseRed said:


> Pier450?


Ruddy Duck SGI


----------



## PeoplesElbow

Kyle said:


> Latest Science Now Says We All Must Wear Masks To Prevent Global Warming
> 
> 
> U.S.—A new study from very credible scientists has revealed that science wants everyone to continue to wear masks for the foreseeable future. This is due to brand new evidence from real science that masks actually prevent global warming.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> babylonbee.com


Dr. Antonio Grouci lol


----------



## GURPS

*CDC Director Issues Final Edict on Mask-Wearing Over New COVID Delta Variant*



As liberal America freaks out over the Delta variant, there really isn’t much to worry about. It’s more transmissible—that’s it. Also, this isn’t the first variant that had this characteristic. Like the others, it’s not more lethal and it doesn’t make you sicker. All the vaccines available are effective against it. So, what’s the worry. Oh, the people who haven’t been jabbed. That’s their decision. For the rest of us who have been vaccinated or have recovered from the infection, live your life. Return to normal living. Go outside. This pandemic is over—and no, you don’t have to wait for whiny liberal writers still freaking out that no one is wearing masks anymore. This is America. _You _can stay inside like an idiot while the rest of us enjoy the fireworks. 

With the variant now paralyzing parts of the country in fear, I love how no one other than Anthony Fauci and his quacks thinks this variant is more deadly. It’s not. We’re not going back inside, Tony—so you can shut the hell up right now. Los Angeles County is now recommending people, even the vaccinated wear masks over the Delta fears. Well, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky shot that down…sort of. She said the CDC guidelines on masks, even with Delta, are not changing for the vaccinated, so rip them things off, folks. She did not, however, rip LA County a new one for peddling science fiction (via The Hill):



> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday that fully vaccinated people are "safe" from the current variants and do not need to wear masks, doubling down on CDC guidance as some others call for a return to mask wearing.
> The question of mask wearing has come back to the forefront given recommendations from Los Angeles County health officials, and from the World Health Organization, that even fully vaccinated people should continue to wear masks indoors in public as a precaution due to the rise of the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus.
> But Walensky said that the CDC's guidance has not changed and that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks, echoing other health experts who note that the vaccines are highly effective even against the delta variant.
> "If you are vaccinated, you are safe from the variants that are circulating here in the United States," Walensky said on NBC's "Today," adding it was "exactly right" that vaccinated people do not need to wear masks.
> […]
> She also did not criticize Los Angeles.
> "We have always said that local policymakers need to make policies for their local environment," she said.


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...

Thank goodness it the "final edict" I can ignore.


----------



## GURPS

*Tucker Carlson Delivers with Latest Research Demolishing Forcible Child Masking*







> That study confirms that masking children wasn't simply unnecessary and probably counterproductive, masking children was legitimately dangerous for the children. In the study, researchers asked 45 kids between the ages of six and 17 to wear face masks for a very short period of time in a controlled environment. Within just three minutes, they found that kids were inhaling carbon dioxide up to more than six times the acceptable limit for adults. The younger the children, the higher the concentration of carbon dioxide. Almost immediately after putting a mask on a 7-year-old, that kid's carbon dioxide level was 25,000 parts per million. How much is that? Well, it’s more than twice the level considered hazardous for adults in workplaces in this country ... Imagine a full school day and what it would do to a child. How about a full year of full school days? Think about that, it's horrifying. And the effects are measurable and have been for a while, but they've been ignored.


----------



## GURPS

*Fauci Pretty Much Admits Mask-Wearing for Vaccinated Persons Is Just Theater*







I mean, look at this nonsense Dr. Anthony Fauci said on MSNBC. A vaccinated person is safe to go outside and attend a baseball game, but it doesn't hurt to wear a mask anyway? What? That makes no sense. Also, aren't these the masks that you said don't work? Store-bought masks, which we have been forced to wear all year, don't curb the spread of COVID. Fauci admitted this in recently revealed emails. Also, he was not happy when Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that continued mask-wearing for those who have acquired immunity, especially for those in post-vaccination stages, was just an exercise in political theater. 

Well, Rand was right. 

The so-called top COVID expert said that we don't need to wear a mask post-vaccination, but it doesn't hurt to wear one anyway…even though they're the ones (store-bought) that he declared don't work to curb the spread. 


https://townhall.com/columnists/dav...onal-disaster-n2591912?utm_campaign=inarticle


----------



## Hijinx

The scientists have made themselves look like fools over this Covid mess.


----------



## my-thyme




----------



## GURPS

*Fauci Says Vaccinated Americans Should 'Go the Extra Mile' and Wear Masks in Areas with Low Vaccination Rates*

“If you put yourself in an environment in which you have a high level of viral dynamics and a very low level of vaccine, you might want to go the extra step and say 'When I'm in that area where there's a considerable degree of viral circulation, I might want to go the extra mile to be cautious enough to make sure that I get the extra added level of protection, even though the vaccines themselves are highly effective,'” Fauci said in an interview with Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” adding that vaccines are not 100 percent effective.

This comes as the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus, which was first discovered in India, has begun to spread in the United States. 

Local mask advisories have been implemented in areas such as Los Angeles county and St. Louis, Mo. for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in indoor settings amid the spread of the delta variant.

The United States has seen a decline in COVID-19 infections and deaths as access to vaccines has become widely available. 

However, Fauci warned of a possible coronavirus surge and said that the pandemic is not over just yet due to the delta variant.


----------



## TPD

Fauci hasn't been on TV much lately so he had to say something stupid to get back to front and center.  Me Me Me!


----------



## Hijinx

Fuk Faucci.


----------



## TPD

Just as we guessed folks - it ain't over!  When kids go back to school they must still where masks unless vaccinated.  So maybe this should have gone in the "Politics of Vaccine" thread.



> The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday that returning to in-person learning in schools this fall is a priority and that masks should be worn indoors by all individuals ages 2 and older who are not fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
> The agency also recommended that schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms to reduce transmission risk.


What happened to 6 feet??



> The CDC stated that those who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in any setting, including while participating in extracurricular activities or while eating. However, it noted that based on the needs of the community, a school may opt to make mask use universally required regardless of vaccination status.











						CDC says schools should open in fall, recommends masks for unvaccinated
					

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday that returning to in-person learning in schools this fall is a priority and that masks should be worn indoors by all individuals ages 2 and older who are not fully vaccinated against coronavirus.




					www.foxnews.com
				




Any bets on if Hogan reinstates masks in schools this fall when they open?


----------



## Sneakers

TPD said:


> What happened to 6 feet??


Got dropped to 3 feet months ago.  Try to keep up.


----------



## TPD

Sneakers said:


> Got dropped to 3 feet months ago.  Try to keep up.


okay will try to do better.

I'm am still surprised at all of the businesses that have their "fake 'rona walls" - ie plexiglass - still in place.  I have been commenting to most employees this week that they are keeping them up thru the summer to mask the smell from customers like me who are out in the heat sweating our you-know-whats off.  Only one business I frequent - WesBanco Chancellors Run Branch - appears to be forcing their employees to continue to wear the face diaper.  Have not seen it anywhere else.


----------



## RoseRed

A lot of the staff at Giant are still wearing them.


----------



## Sneakers

TPD said:


> I'm am still surprised at all of the businesses that have their "fake 'rona walls" - ie plexiglass - still in place.


The place it bugs me is the grocery store self-checkout.  Drives me insane.  It's right up against the card reader and I have trouble entering codes with my left hand.  I almost  ripped one down yesterday.  After being inches away from every other shopper, what the hell good do they do at the checkout?


----------



## Hijinx

Everything I read says that the Covid is not serious for kids.
Most don't get it and it isn't all that bad when they do and yet the CDC is still screaming shots and masks.


----------



## PrchJrkr

Sneakers said:


> The place it bugs me is the grocery store self-checkout.  Drives me insane.  It's right up against the card reader and I have trouble entering codes with my left hand.  I almost  ripped one down yesterday.  After being inches away from every other shopper, what the hell good do they do at the checkout?


There's a shield for the self checkout? Strange...


----------



## RoseRed

PrchJrkr said:


> There's a shield for the self checkout? Strange...


COOTIES!!!!


----------



## PrchJrkr

RoseRed said:


> COOTIES!!!!


----------



## Sneakers

PrchJrkr said:


> There's a shield for the self checkout? Strange...


Yes, between each kiosk.


----------



## GURPS

*Nurses Union to CDC: Bring Back the Mask Mandate*


Well, I guess we should have expected this to happen with the Delta variant. The nation’s largest registered nurses’ union is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reinstate the mask mandate to curb the spread of coronavirus. They already were against the loosening of regulations concerning the vaccinated. They say their call to reinstate the mask protocols is based on science, and that no vaccine is 100 percent effective. They can go shove it (via The Hill):



> The National Nurses Union (NNU) in a Monday letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky requested that the agency reinstitute guidelines for all people to wear masks in public and in close proximity to those outside their household.





> NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo pointed to a 16 percent uptick in U.S. COVID-19 cases from last week, according to CDC data, as well as rises in case counts in more than 40 states and hospitalizations in more than 25 states as reasons to return to previous, stricter guidelines.


Oh, go to hell, lady. We’re done with all this stuff. The pandemic is over. Sorry, but states are loosening regulations and we’re not going back. _All three vaccines_ are effective against the Delta variant. And the masks that you have fetishized don’t curb the spread of COVID. Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted that store-bought masks do nothing to stop the spread so can we please stop the science fiction. Also, following the advice of the China-infested WHO as well?
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattv...created-covid-n2592424?utm_campaign=inarticle


----------



## Hijinx

Mask do no0thing to stop Covid. They don't even stop dust.
About the only thing they are good for is cutting the grass and not breathing the dried grass or bugs.


----------



## GURPS

*Anthony Fauci Is Wrong About the Need for 3-Year-Olds To Wear Masks*


Fauci expressed concern that unvaccinated, unmasked kids could contract the disease and spread it to adults who might be at greater risk of negative health outcomes.

But this is rapidly becoming an unpersuasive reason to require masks, given that all American adults who _want _to get a vaccine are basically able to do so, and 90 percent of the most vulnerable population—seniors—are already vaccinated. In other words, it's increasingly unlikely that a sick child would spread COVID-19 to someone who would be in serious danger of dying from it, unless this hypothetical person obstinately refused to take the vaccine. And in that case, it doesn't seem fair to continue to require children—who are not themselves particularly vulnerable to COVID-19—to continue masking up.

Make no mistake: Unvaccinated children have as much natural protection from COVID-19 as vaccinated seniors do, according to Brown University economist Emily Oster, who writes that parents shouldn't be so quick to abandon their summer plans due to the delta variant.

"Twice a close-to-zero risk is still close to zero," notes Oster.


----------



## GURPS

*Masks Are Back in L.A. County Because Libs Are Really Anti-Vaxxers, Too*



While it’s true that polls are even bigger garbage than the mainstream media, this illustrates the lengths to which the Left will go to blame Republicans for everything bad about COVID-19.

If any serious spikes in COVID cases led to a return of mask mandates, surely that would happen in a place that’s loaded with conservatives, right?

Yeah…no.

ABC7NY:



> LOS ANGELES — A rapid and sustained increase in COVID-19 cases in the nation’s largest county requires restoring an indoor mask mandate even when people are vaccinated, Los Angeles County’s public health officer said Thursday.





> L.A. County Health Officer, Dr. Muntu Davis said at a virtual press conference that a public health order requiring masks indoors will go into effect Saturday.



*I lived in Los Angeles County for almost 25 years. I’ve only been gone three years but I’m sure that the demographics haven’t changed. If memory serves me well — and it usually does — Los Angeles County is positively reeking with a Democratic majority. Almost three-quarters of the registered voters there are Democrats and, trust me, the majority of those who aren’t registered are also libs.*

What in the world could be the problem? Surely a county with just under ten million people that’s predominantly liberal doesn’t have a vaccination problem.

Um…


> Davis said the county is “not where we need to be” in terms of vaccinations against the virus, as evidenced by seven straight days of new cases numbers that topped 1,000. On Thursday, the county reported 1,537 new infections, the highest number since early March.
> Asked what additional restrictions health officials might take if the rise in COVID-19 cases worsens, Davis said: “Everything is on the table.”


----------



## GURPS

*L.A. Sheriff Says Indoor Mask Mandate Is ‘Not Backed By Science’ And His ‘Defunded’ Department Won’t Enforce It*


----------



## Kyle

https://babylonbee.com/news/alarming-covid-surge-cases-double-from-2-to-4-in-just-one-week


----------



## GURPS

*The Existence of Vaccines Weakens the Justification for Mask Mandates*


We know the vaccines used in the U.S. are highly effective. We know that people who are vaccinated hardly ever get COVID-19, and on the off chance they do, they don’t get sick enough to require hospitalization and aren’t at risk of death. We know the vaccines are effective against variants. As for vaccine side effects, just look around. Jim Geraghty put it well a few days ago: “More than 159 million Americans are fully vaccinated, more than 184 million Americans have at least one shot. Nobody’s growing a third eyeball.”

Vaccines solve the problems that mask mandates were created to mitigate. The negative externalities argument goes away because vaccination is a freely available individual defense against the potential costs of other people’s behavior. People who don’t get vaccinated are putting themselves at risk for being infected, and people who are vaccinated are unaffected by their decision. The precautionary principle argument is gone because the uncertainty about how to stop spread of the virus is gone. The solution is vaccines, and we know it.

Vaccines have been available to every American adult for free since the middle of April (and we know that the risk the virus poses to children is vanishingly small). If people have not been vaccinated yet, that’s their decision. They know they have a chance at catching the virus, and they’re fine with that. Vaccines allow for the individualized approach to virus mitigation that was impossible before they were invented. Society-wide measures like mask mandates are leftovers from the pre-vaccine period, when we knew less and were genuinely defenseless against an easily transmissible virus. Those conditions no longer hold, thank goodness.


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...

For those that think you're gonna get compensation from injury, illness, or death, due to the experimental vaccine, and since the pharmaceuticals are exempt from all liability, that leaves only the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP).

And for the past 11 years, from 2010 through 7/1/2021, the total number of CICP claims filed: *1,657*. And of those claims, over the past 11 years, only *29 *claims were compensated. So good luck if the shot injures or kills you, or someone in your family. Oh yeah. You only have one year from the date of getting the "vaccine" to file a claim. If an injury, illness or death occurs after one year because of the "vaccine"? Sucks to be you. You will find no joy from this program, nor from anyone else.

Look over the data right here and notice how many claims for the COVID19 "vaccine" have been filed already. "436 allege injuries/deaths from COVID-19 vaccines".





__





						Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) Data | HRSA
					






					www.hrsa.gov


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*After Reinstating Mask Mandate, Here's the COVID Death Toll from LA County. Prepare to Be Angry Again.*


----------



## TPD

After the American Association of Pediatrics or something like that came out today and highly recommended masks for all kids 3 years and older when returning to school, the great one wasn’t long getting on CNN and agreeing.









						Fauci supports medical group's call to mask 3-year-olds and older in school: 'Reasonable thing to do'
					

Dr. Anthony Fauci argued Monday that the decision by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to recommend all children aged 3 years and older wear masks when schools reopen regardless of vaccination status was "a reasonable thing to do."




					www.foxnews.com


----------



## Hijinx

Of course Faucci thinks it's reasonable, he isn't a child returning to school who has to sit there sucking on his own spit and snot all day long.
masks are useless against the virus and not much good against regular household dust./


----------



## Sneakers

Hijinx said:


> Of course Faucci thinks it's reasonable, he isn't a child returning to school who has to sit there sucking on his own spit and snot all day long.
> masks are useless against the virus and not much good against regular household dust./


Wearing the same mask all day just increases the chance of bacterial infection from all that crap breeding in the hot, wet environment of the mask, and is inhaled with every breath.  And I'll bet no one changes masks during the day, or even weekly.


----------



## PrchJrkr

Sneakers said:


> Wearing the same mask all day just increases the chance of bacterial infection from all that crap breeding in the hot, wet environment of the mask, and is inhaled with every breath.  And I'll bet no one changes masks during the day, or even weekly.


This is why I chose a bandana. At least the bottom was open, but it still fogged up my glasses. I did make sure they were laundered regularly. I can't imagine being a wee one and expected to keep one on all day. These peeps are crazy.


----------



## AdorableDeplorable

After everyday use at school, my toddler son's mask is covered in snot, food, dirt, grass stains, you name it. All it seems to do is ATTRACT germs, not repel them.


----------



## Kinnakeet

LightRoasted said:


> If I may ...
> 
> For those that think you're gonna get compensation from injury, illness, or death, due to the experimental vaccine, and since the pharmaceuticals are exempt from all liability, that leaves only the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP).
> 
> And for the past 11 years, from 2010 through 7/1/2021, the total number of CICP claims filed: *1,657*. And of those claims, over the past 11 years, only *29 *claims were compensated. So good luck if the shot injures or kills you, or someone in your family. Oh yeah. You only have one year from the date of getting the "vaccine" to file a claim. If an injury, illness or death occurs after one year because of the "vaccine"? Sucks to be you. You will find no joy from this program, nor from anyone else.
> 
> Look over the data right here and notice how many claims for the COVID19 "vaccine" have been filed already. "436 allege injuries/deaths from COVID-19 vaccines".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) Data | HRSA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.hrsa.gov


10 years from now there will be TV adds foe this shot hopefully Captain Kirk will still be able to make a commercial for the DC hammer..Mike Slocom..lol


----------



## GURPS

*Biden White House Mulling New Mask Mandates, But There's a Catch...And It Involves the Midterm Election*


There are tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans who are also eligible to vote. Do you really want to kick that hornet’s nest? Inflation is rising. It could be a more salient 2022 issue. Violent crime is also an issue. The economy is in a state of anemia. And all of this as Democrats barely cling onto their majorities in the House and Senate. This will be classic ‘all talk, no action’ theater. Or at the very least they’ll try to delegate this out to other agencies, giving them the ‘well, the CDC gave a recommendation. We’re just following their advice’ escape hatch (via The Hill) [emphasis mine]:



> The White House is reportedly in talks with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other top administration officials on whether to push for updated mask guidance amid a surge in delta variant infections across the country.
> Six people familiar with the discussions told The Washington Post that talks are still in the early stages, though officials said any updated guidelines on wearing masks would come directly from the CDC.
> Under the CDC’s current health guidelines, Americans who are fully vaccinated do not have to wear masks in most settings, though a federal mask mandate remains in place for airlines and other forms of public transportation.
> […]
> *Officials who spoke to the Post said that the White House aims to maintain a hands-off approach and leave it up to the CDC on the best path forward for mask guidelines*.
> […]
> “At this time, we have no intention of changing our masking guidance,” CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said in a statement.


----------



## TPD

and the question is - how many of you will comply when a new mask mandate is put in place?  I didn't play in the last round of this game and I will not play in the next round.


----------



## Hijinx

TPD said:


> and the question is - how many of you will comply when a new mask mandate is put in place?  I didn't play in the last round of this game and I will not play in the next round.



I was played so were millions of Americans.
I won't be played again.


----------



## Sneakers

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again, no, no


----------



## Sneakers

TPD said:


> and the question is - how many of you will comply when a new mask mandate is put in place?  I didn't play in the last round of this game and I will not play in the next round.


The "next round" has started.  There was a Covid infection at my dad's assisted living home, so they went back to masking, cleaning and distancing protocols.  Waiting for them to lock the doors.


----------



## PrchJrkr

Sneakers said:


> The "next round" has started.  There was a Covid infection at my dad's assisted living home, so they went back to masking, cleaning and distancing protocols.  Waiting for them to lock the doors.


I was finally convinced that it was time to get the jab and was using CVS's website to sign up. I had everything (painstakingly) filled out and ready to submit and the website timed out due to inactivity. I was actually at the very last page to commit and it timed out as I was reading over the last disclaimer. I took that as a sign and closed the window.


----------



## Louise

PrchJrkr said:


> I was finally convinced that it was time to get the jab and was using CVS's website to sign up. I had everything (painstakingly) filled out and ready to submit and the website timed out due to inactivity. I was actually at the very last page to commit and it timed out as I was reading over the last disclaimer. I took that as a sign and closed the window.



No jab is a great thing. I have not been jabbed.  Do people really think that our communist politicians are getting the real jab?  I think they are getting a B12 shot, or something else that is benign; because they know what’s up in trying to take US down, and kill US.; not to mention the World. Power is an ugly thing.  I am tired of the fact that politicians think WE are all stupid sheep.  They will find out that WE are not. The take over has been in progress for 60+ years, but the commies kept being stumped; by Reagan, Trump, etal.  The person/people behind the curtain have now been identified.  The Wizard of Oz comes to mind.  God bless Judy Garland, and the USA. 

And, also, have not gotten the flu vax since 2004.  I have not had the flu, since.  Just a cold; now and then.  Hmmm….


----------



## GURPS

*Masking Up Is a Political Statement, Not Disease Prevention*


Wearing a mask tells everyone that you are conspicuously following the advice of the CDC, Democrats, and other authoritarians. Ordinarily, no one would give a fig if you did. So the mask becomes an important self-justifying signal of support for an ideology.

What makes that so silly is how unnecessary it is.




> Theoretically, if there are places in the country where vaccine rates are very low, people who obstinately refuse to become vaccinated might get some small benefit out of widespread mask usage. But in practice, people who don’t want to get the vaccine are unlikely to follow the other, more annoying mitigation strategies. On the contrary, the places that are most likely to reintroduce mask mandates and see widespread compliance are places where vaccination rates are very high.
> Vaccination should not be thought of as just one tool among many: It is _the _tool. The masks are an insult to this life-saving, pandemic-crushing medical innovation.



Masks are also an insult to the intelligence of the American people. Forcing people to wear masks presupposes they’re too stupid to know how best to protect themselves and their families. This point of view is prevalent not just among leftists, but also elitists on the right.

The choice of whether or not to wear a mask or get the vaccine is a personal one. We don’t need protection from ourselves for any reason, even if some of us believe in nutty conspiracies and ludicrous science. Mask mandates need to be tossed on the rubbish pile of history and forgotten.


----------



## GURPS

*St. Louis To Require Masks Indoors Again, Regardless Of Vaccination Status; State AG To File Lawsuit*






Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin “also pledged to stop the mandate, saying he would use his own executive action to prevent enforcement of the mandate in the large west St. Louis County suburb. His executive action will also allow business and other gathering places to use parking lots and other adjacent spaces to do business to accommodate people without masks outside, he said on Facebook,” per St. Louis Post-Dispatch.


----------



## Kyle

Get ready for phase II....






__





						AAMI Consensus Reports Guide ‘Bubble Helmet’ Development as COVID-19 response
					






					www.aami.org


----------



## Kyle

Compromise Reached: Everyone Still Afraid Of COVID Will Be Locked Down, Everyone Else Will Live Lives As Normal










						Compromise Reached: Everyone Still Afraid Of COVID Will Be Locked Down, Everyone Else Will Live Lives As Normal
					

U.S.—In a historic compromise, the world has agreed to come together despite different opinions on lockdowns, vaccinations, masks, and other COVID measures. To bridge the gap between the two broad groups of opinion, those who are still scared of COVID will be locked down in their homes, never to...




					babylonbee.com


----------



## GURPS

*CDC to reverse indoor mask policy, saying fully vaccinated people should wear them indoors in Covid hot spots*


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to recommend Tuesday that fully vaccinated people begin wearing masks indoors again in places with high Covid-19 transmission rates, according to people familiar with the matter.

*Federal health officials still believe fully vaccinated individuals represent a very small amount of transmission, according to the sources. Still, some vaccinated people could be carrying higher levels of the virus than previously understood and potentially transmit it to others, they said.*

The CDC is slated to hold a briefing at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

The updated guidance comes ahead of the fall season, when the highly contagious delta variant is expected to cause another surge in new coronavirus cases and many large employers plan to bring workers back to the office. In mid-May, the CDC said fully vaccinated people didn’t need to wear masks in most settings, whether indoors or outdoors.


----------



## GURPS

*Sorry Fauci, I Didn't Get Vaccinated to Keep Wearing a Mask*



Yet, it feels like our government overlords aren’t happy when we’re not entirely submissive, and there’s a lot of talk about mask mandates being implemented again because of the Delta variant.

The foundation for bringing back the mandates has been laid for some time now. Last month, Joe Biden flat-out lied by claiming the Delta variant is deadlier than the original strain of the virus.

“Here’s the deal: The Delta variant is more contagious, it’s deadlier, and it’s spreading quickly around the world – leaving young, unvaccinated people more vulnerable than ever,” Biden tweeted. “Please, get vaccinated if you haven’t already. Let’s head off this strain before it’s too late.”

This is just not true. The Delta variant, while more contagious, has a significantly smaller case fatality ratio. For example, in the United Kingdom, approximately 95 percent of new cases are linked to the Delta variant, and new cases spiked to about 80 percent of peak levels, but there was no spike in COVID-19 deaths.


----------



## GURPS

*‘It Isn’t Based In Science’: DeSantis’s Office Blasts CDC Over K-12 In-School Mask Guidelines*


“It isn’t based in science. There is no indication that areas with mask mandates have performed any better than areas without mask mandates. In fact, this policy could actually backfire,” DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw told Fox News on Tuesday.

“Mandating masks for vaccinated people erodes public trust and confidence in the effectiveness of the vaccines. To me it appears that the government wants to be perceived as ‘doing something’ during a seasonal infection surge, even if their policy does not necessarily make people safer,'” Pushaw added.


----------



## TPD

I would bet $10 right now that mask mandates are coming back to Maryland within a month.I
I've seen more people wearing masks voluntarily in the last week so yeah - the messaging as far as making people scared is working.


----------



## my-thyme

Wal-Mart.com is selling these.

You think I won't wear it? Think again.


----------



## Sneakers

I thought steam-punk was dead....


----------



## my-thyme

Im'a bringing it back.


----------



## black dog

TPD said:


> I would bet $10 right now that mask mandates are coming back to Maryland within a month.I
> I've seen more people wearing masks voluntarily in the last week so yeah - the messaging as far as making people scared is working.



Like Vegas, I bet you see them starting this Friday night.


----------



## PeoplesElbow

Heard a nasty rumor they are coming back on base.


----------



## Hijinx

I don't intend to wear one again.


----------



## TPD

Hijinx said:


> I don't intend to wear one again.


You will if your overlords say you will!


----------



## GURPS

*Newsom Pulls Kids From Camp After Photos Emerge Of Them Maskless*


After members of the public noticed that the son of California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom was photographed at his summer camp maskless with other maskless children, they harshly criticized Newsom for his hypocrisy, since California has implemented statewide guidance that children wear masks to camps regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not.

After the photos of his son emerged, Newsom, who is facing a serious recall election, pulled his son out of the camp, The Sacramento Bee reported, adding, “Under the state’s guidelines, children’s camps must follow the same rules as schools.”


----------



## herb749

If they want masks back on they need to please be honest and say the black & hispanic community need to step up and get vaccinated. Ignoring their numbers and only blaming republicans is dishonest.


----------



## TPD

herb749 said:


> If they want masks back on they need to please be honest and say the black & hispanic community need to step up and get vaccinated. Ignoring their numbers and only blaming republicans is dishonest.


But that’s racist. And they have no ID.


----------



## PJay

The only thing that gives them power is our compliance.


----------



## PeoplesElbow

And masks are back on base for those that are vaccinated.


----------



## GURPS

*‘No One Knows Anything’: Experts Ask CDC To Release Data On Revised Mask Mandates*


Republican legislators and some commentators noted Wednesday that the CDC did not provide an explicit scientific rationale for returning to indoor masking, even though the group’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, cited “new data” in her press conference announcing the change.

It turns out, though, that political figureheads are not the only ones asking questions.

The CDC’s report, experts noted to The Washington Post, cites only “CDC COVID-19 Response Team, unpublished data, 2021,” as the agency’s scientific justification for directing even individuals vaccinated against COVID-19 to mask up when indoors if they live in a county with high rates of the disease’s delta variant.


----------



## Kyle

Face Masks Found To Be Effective At Making You Look Like A Giant Dummy Who Doesn’t Know How Vaccines Work









						Face Masks Found To Be Effective At Making You Look Like A Giant Dummy Who Doesn’t Know How Vaccines Work
					

ATLANTA, GA—The CDC is once again recommending face masks indoors—even for vaccinated individuals. While the exact effectiveness of face masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19 isn’t known, a new study has shown that face masks are highly ineffective in protecting you from looking like some...




					babylonbee.com


----------



## Kinnakeet

How does the cdc tell AMERICA what to do they are know takers of money to further the demorat agenda


----------



## Hijinx

One thing about the headline is right "No one knows anything."

They haven't known anything since this whole thing started.
But we do know that Dr. Faucci started experimenting with the bat virus and then sent money to China because it was considered too dangerous to work on here, then they place this goofy looking bastid in charge of our reaction to it, and he screwed that up from the  "git-go". Now he is working on Ebola because Covid takes too long to kill us. 
Just thought I would give my opinion on Faucci.

Anyway they are still telling us to take the Trump vaccination.


----------



## GURPS

*What Does the Unpublished Evidence Cited by the CDC's New Face Mask Guidance Actually Show?*


Walensky also alluded to data from other countries. "Studies from India with vaccines not authorized for use in the United States have noted relatively high viral loads and larger cluster sizes associated with infections with Delta, regardless of vaccination status," the CDC's new guidance says. It cites a preprint study of breakthrough infections in vaccinated Indian health care workers that found "higher respiratory viral loads compared to nondelta infections." That study described the "respiratory viral loads" as "significant" but did not say they were comparable to those seen in unvaccinated carriers. The senior author of that study, microbiologist Ravindra Gupta, told the _Post_ the ability of vaccinated people with breakthrough infections to transmit the virus has not been "formally measured in a rigorous way," although he agreed with the CDC's new mask advice.

"They're making a claim that people with delta who are vaccinated and unvaccinated have similar levels of viral load, but nobody knows what that means," Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, told the _Post_. "It's meaningless unless we see the data."

One question is whether a high viral load in the nose is a good measure of infectivity. According to the _Post_, Emory University biostatistician Natalie Dean "remains unconvinced a high viral load in the nose truly means that vaccinated and unvaccinated people are equally as likely to spread the virus, although she acknowledged there is an ongoing debate about the issue." Dean "thinks the amount of virus in the throat or lungs could be important and might differ between people who are vaccinated and those who are not."


----------



## my-thyme

If you see this guy around Lex Pk, yeah, this is


----------



## GURPS

I have a Duster like that


----------



## GURPS

*DeSantis Just Put Some MAJOR Teeth in His Executive Order on School Masking*


In Section 1 of the order, DeSantis directed the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Department of Education to use “all legal means available” to ensure that the state’s schools do not “violate Floridians’ constitutional freedoms” or “violate parents’ right under Florida law to make health care decisions for their minor children.” The order further mandates that schools “protect children with disabilities or health conditions who would be harmed by certain protocols such as face masking requirements.”

But that’s not all. Gov. DeSantis’ order has teeth. Big ones. Schools that deny parents the right to make health decisions on behalf of their children, including masking decisions, are going to be in a world of hurt.




> Second 3: The Florida Commissioner of Education shall pursue all legal means available to ensure school districts adhere to Florida law, including but not limited to withholding state funds from noncompliant school boards violating any rules or agency action taken pursuant to Section 1 above.


----------



## GURPS

*Rand Paul Slams New Mask Mandates: 'The Science Doesn't Support It'*

“There is no science behind it,” Senator Paul, a licensed physician, explained. “All of the studies that have looked at natural immunity show that natural immunity has at least as good of immunity as you get from a vaccine. People have to realize that vaccines are based on what we learned from natural immunity over the last couple of hundred years, how the body responds to a foreign particle, a virus or a bacteria, and then we simulate that with a vaccine. So, the vaccine is simulating the natural immunity that I have, but Dr. Fauci discounts it.”


“Thirty-five million people officially have had COVID,” Paul continued. “But really conservative estimates even from the CDC indicate another 70 some odd million have had it, so really it is over  100 million Americans have had it, probably 150=160 million have been inoculated with the vaccine. Together we have an enormous amount of success with immunity. In fact, the other day, I saw that over 65 years of age, 90 percent of people have now been inoculated. So, this is extraordinary success, and yet, they say, ‘oh no, we have to inoculate your newborn in the hospital before you can take them home.’ It makes no sense, and the science doesn’t support it.”


----------



## GURPS

But this is a staffer spying and reporting on the behavior of other staffers. If he’s concerned about what they’re doing, by that same token, what’s he doing with his “taxpayer-funded salary?” He’s being a ridiculous Karen narc and complaining about the fact that his neighbors are actually having fun.





Oh my gosh, they drank water in the hallway without masks! Whatever will we do? He even smells a cigar!













						Staffer Shows How Lost Dems Are With His Narcing on Maskless GOP Staffers
					

But this is the kind of insanity that Dems are pushing on people now...




					redstate.com
				







Nothing like getting on Twitter to show what a PETTY  Tyrant you ascribe to be .. this guy would send Jews to the Showers


----------



## TPD

I’m sure this was posted on here somewhere last fall but just a reminder...



> CDC Study Finds Overwhelming Majority of People Getting Coronavirus Wore Masks!











						CDC Study Finds Overwhelming Majority Of People Getting Coronavirus Wore Masks
					

Over 70 percent of the case-patients who were contaminated with the virus fell ill despite "always" wearing a mask.




					thefederalist.com


----------



## Hijinx

Looks to me like even Congressional staffers have had a bellyfull


----------



## GURPS

*D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser Caught Violating Own Rules On First Day Of New Mask Mandate*


“Not 24 hours into the indoor mask mandate she imposed on DC, Muriel Bowser officiated an indoor wedding in Adams Morgan and stayed to fete with _hundreds_ of fellow maskless guests,” according to Tiana Lowe at the Washington Examiner.


“When encountered by the Washington Examiner, Mayor Bowser confirmed that she officiated the maskless, indoor wedding, but when asked why she was violating her own mask mandate, her security retinue quickly escorted her away,” Lowe added. The outlet also noted that Bowser was not sitting at her designated table during the wedding toasts.


----------



## RoseRed




----------



## Kyle




----------



## SamSpade

Saw this









						Biden COVID advisor: Look, the cloth masks just don't do much for you
					

Michael Osterholm has been beating this drum for a year. In a piece from July 2020, he responded to critics who were knocking him for being cautious about the benefits of mask-wearing. I’m not a...




					hotair.com
				




Interesting bit throughout the article and near the end about the efficacy of an intraNASAL vaccine.


----------



## SamSpade

This is the most revealing thing in the article, and it's a classic example of what people do not grasp about _SCALE_.

Viruses are tiny - smoke particles are also, but they are orders of magnitude bigger.

"If you can smell smoke through your mask - the virus can get through".

And it's like trying to scoop minnows up in your regular fish net - they go straight through. It might grab a fish, but it won't even slow down the minnows. There ARE masks that will stop the virus, but most people use cloth masks or something similarly useless. Most of the time, the masks are cosmetic. They satisfy the rule, but do not protect.

In the article the doctor says that such masks have about a 20-50% effectiveness. 
Put better - they have a 50-70% FAILURE rate. So if you're counting on your mask to protect you all day long, it's almost worthless.
They MIGHT - MIGHT help you - on the short term. EVENTUALLY, the virus gets in.

I can't even guess how useless plexiglass barriers are.

My personal belief is that masks did very little last year. 
Virus spreading in big cities? People crammed together breathing the same air.

Your best bet is - social distancing.


----------



## Hijinx

SamSpade said:


> This is the most revealing thing in the article, and it's a classic example of what people do not grasp about _SCALE_.
> 
> Viruses are tiny - smoke particles are also, but they are orders of magnitude bigger.
> 
> "If you can smell smoke through your mask - the virus can get through".
> 
> And it's like trying to scoop minnows up in your regular fish net - they go straight through. It might grab a fish, but it won't even slow down the minnows. There ARE masks that will stop the virus, but most people use cloth masks or something similarly useless. Most of the time, the masks are cosmetic. They satisfy the rule, but do not protect.
> 
> In the article the doctor says that such masks have about a 20-50% effectiveness.
> Put better - they have a 50-70% FAILURE rate. So if you're counting on your mask to protect you all day long, it's almost worthless.
> They MIGHT - MIGHT help you - on the short term. EVENTUALLY, the virus gets in.
> 
> I can't even guess how useless plexiglass barriers are.
> 
> My personal belief is that masks did very little last year.
> Virus spreading in big cities? People crammed together breathing the same air.
> 
> Your best bet is - social distancing.


My best bet is living my life the way I want , and letting those frightened wear their useless masks.


----------



## Sneakers

SamSpade said:


> Your best bet is - social distancing.


That doesn't always work either.  I live alone, don't socialize, no guests to my house, I don't visit anyone.  The only time I go out is to the store for food, etc... and keep my distance from others.  Yet I managed to pick up 2 bugs, one a full fledged flu (Covid-19 test negative) and just 2 weeks ago had a mild flu with a temp, fatigue, severe headache....

My best guess is that by "over-social distancing", my immunity was weakened.  I wasn't being exposed to even the most innocuous of bugs.


----------



## Gilligan

Sneakers said:


> That doesn't always work either.  I live alone, don't socialize, no guests to my house, I don't visit anyone.



See?  Ya need to stop by more often. We've got a wide assortment of bugs, infections and other maladies we can share with you.


----------



## Sneakers

Gilligan said:


> See?  Ya need to stop by more often. We've got a wide assortment of bugs, infections and other maladies we can share with you.


You be so thoughtful.


----------



## Gilligan

Sneakers said:


> You be so thoughtful.


Its a gift.


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...



Sneakers said:


> That doesn't always work either.  I live alone, don't socialize, no guests to my house, I don't visit anyone.  The only time I go out is to the store for food, etc... and keep my distance from others.  Yet I managed to pick up 2 bugs, one a full fledged flu (Covid-19 test negative) and just 2 weeks ago had a mild flu with a temp, fatigue, severe headache....
> 
> My best guess is that by "over-social distancing", my immunity was weakened.  I wasn't being exposed to even the most innocuous of bugs.


Want some immunity, aside from a proper diet and exercise? Start a garden. Get on your hands and knees and do not use gloves when planting seeds or seedlings, or when weeding, or toiling the soil with a hand trowel. And do it while bare footed. Become one with the garden and the soil, (earth). Get dirty. Get grounded. It is exhilarating.


----------



## Grumpy

Mud wrestling!!  but what about the guys?


----------



## GURPS

*Study connects hyperglycemia and prolonged cloth mask use to COVID-19-associated mucormycosis risk*


A new study conducted in India identifies the role of high blood sugar levels in predisposing patients to mucormycosis infection. The study, which is available on the preprint server _medRxiv*,_ also provides guidance on how to mitigate the risk of this fungal infection.

*What is mucormycosis?*

Mucormycosis is a sporadic fungal disease caused by angio-invasive fungi of the order _Mucorales_ and almost exclusively occurs opportunistically in immunocompromised patients. This disease swiftly causes rhino-orbital-cerebral tissue destruction and death that often extends to the lungs, skin, digestive tract, or even systemic circulation.
The incidence of mucormycosis has recently surged to more than double its normal rate because of its prevalence among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in India. This suggests that COVID-19 is a risk factor for mucormycosis, either as a result of the weakened immune system or an indirect result of the therapies, such as corticosteroids, that have been used in the management of COVID-19.
Not only is mucormycosis itself life-threatening, but the high cost of treatment mandates that rigorous efforts be made to prevent it.

*Background*

India has had high rates of mucormycosis, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, that are about 70 times the global prevalence. This increased incidence of mucormycosis could be because of the high humidity and ambient temperatures in this nation, as well as the prevalence of diabetes. Rural areas in India have often been particularly vulnerable to mucormycosis.
Previous studies indicate that males, typically in their forties and fifties, are more likely to be affected than females by mucormycosis. Recently, the onset of mucormycosis has occurred about 3 weeks after the beginning of COVID-19 symptoms, with the nose and orbital cavities typically affected first.
Most of the COVID-19 patients with mucormycosis have reported poor control of their blood sugar, were on systemic corticosteroid therapy or had diabetes. These factors were absent in only one patient in the current study, differing from earlier reports where a minority of cases, up to 33% in some reports, lacked any of these risk factors.


----------



## GURPS

*Yamiche Alcindor wants to know what ‘sticks’ the Department of Education has in its toolbox to use against politicians banning mask mandates*


----------



## GURPS

*Psaki Rejects Top Scientist's Facts About Masks*







"Osterholm is not an [current] advisor to the president, to the administration, to the White House, he doesn't work here. He's a private citizen and a public health expert, but a lot of public health experts are out there speaking, and good for them. I will say that we are going to rely on the advice of medical experts in the federal government on what kind of masks we all should wear, what kind of masks kids should wear and if they change that advice then the Department of Education will be working with schools to make sure the is implemented as a mitigation measure," Psaki said. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the federal government's highest-paid bureaucrat, said in February 2020 that store-bought masks are not effective at stopping Wuhan coronavirus from spreading.


Well we should at least be glad she did label the interview Medical Misinformation


Of course what that does mean is Osterholm is *ADVOCATING *Everyone wear KN-95 Masks


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...



GURPS said:


> *Psaki Rejects Top Scientist's Facts About Masks*
> 
> 
> 
> "Osterholm is not an [current] advisor to the president, to the administration, to the White House, he doesn't work here. He's a private citizen and a public health expert, but a lot of public health experts are out there speaking, and good for them. I will say that we are going to rely on the advice of medical experts in the federal government on what kind of masks we all should wear, what kind of masks kids should wear and if they change that advice then the Department of Education will be working with schools to make sure the is implemented as a mitigation measure," Psaki said.
> 
> Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the federal government's highest-paid bureaucrat, said in February 2020 that store-bought masks are not effective at stopping Wuhan coronavirus from spreading.
> Well we should at least be glad she did label the interview Medical Misinformation
> Of course what that does mean is Osterholm is *ADVOCATING *Everyone wear KN-95 Masks



in other words; He is not on the list of "approved" experts.


----------



## GURPS

*Liberal Prof Cries Over Lack Of Mask Mandate: ‘There Is No Such Thing As A Personal Choice In A Pandemic’*


A liberal professor and priest in Ohio posted a TikTok video of herself crying and explaining why she was frustrated that her child’s school was not implementing a mask mandate.

Reverend Rachel Kessler is a professor at Kenyon College, a liberal arts school in Gambion, Ohio, and a self-proclaimed “exvangelical,” or former Evangelical. She has a guide for “LGBTQ+ affirming churches” on her website and claims to be an Episcopal priest.



_I need to go home. Instead, I’m sitting at my desk crying because we just got word from our superintendent that masks will not be required in our school district this year because the school has to respect the choice of parents that don’t want to have their kids in a mask._​​_And that’s just the most bull***t reasoning, and I’m so over it. Because there is no such thing as a personal choice in a pandemic. Because I have no choice now to send my child to school in a way that will be safe for them. Because my child’s mask will do a great job of protecting the other kids around her. But I have no choice not to have my kid coughed on by her classmates._​​_I am so tired of this “I’ll do what works for me, you do what works for you” take on a public health crisis. And we are never going to get out of this if we cannot start collectively thinking about how our actions impact the people around us._​


----------



## Kyle

Can we just euthanize all the hypochondriacs?


----------



## GURPS

*Mask Mandates: A Product Of The Cancel Culture*


Another “progressive” politician has ordered the people she believes are her subjects to wear masks indoors. For safety’s sake? Let’s not fool ourselves.

As if following the Petty Tyrants chapter from the Democratic Party playbook, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that Oregonians, vaccinated or not, will again have to cover their faces in all indoor public spaces. Because she’s smarter and just more sensible than those living under her rule.

The mask mandates (and lockdowns) are a direct outcome of the spread of our cancel culture. People aren’t “canceled” in an effort to civilize our society and de-coarsen language. They are canceled because it gives the “cancelers” power. It’s their perverted way of telling others “we can control what you say.” It allows them to feel important and powerful, to advertise their moral superiority, to pump their egos. They want others to fear them, and take a twisted pleasure in seeing their victims grovel and beg to be accepted back into their good graces. That this behavior is now widely accepted is deeply alarming.

Mask mandates are driven by a similar need to exercise authority over others, and to draw in the rarified air only the most brilliant and discerning among us are allowed to breathe. Those handing down the mandates, as well as the pundits, assorted nags, and tight-haired school marms who are demanding them, are convinced, and nothing will persuade them otherwise, that they are the master class, deserving of their place at the top.


----------



## TPD

GURPS said:


> *Liberal Prof Cries Over Lack Of Mask Mandate: ‘There Is No Such Thing As A Personal Choice In A Pandemic’*
> 
> 
> A liberal professor and priest in Ohio posted a TikTok video of herself crying and explaining why she was frustrated that her child’s school was not implementing a mask mandate.
> 
> Reverend Rachel Kessler is a professor at Kenyon College, a liberal arts school in Gambion, Ohio, and a self-proclaimed “exvangelical,” or former Evangelical. She has a guide for “LGBTQ+ affirming churches” on her website and claims to be an Episcopal priest.
> 
> 
> 
> _I need to go home. Instead, I’m sitting at my desk crying because we just got word from our superintendent that masks will not be required in our school district this year because the school has to respect the choice of parents that don’t want to have their kids in a mask._​​_And that’s just the most bull***t reasoning, and I’m so over it. Because there is no such thing as a personal choice in a pandemic. Because I have no choice now to send my child to school in a way that will be safe for them. Because my child’s mask will do a great job of protecting the other kids around her. But I have no choice not to have my kid coughed on by her classmates._​​_I am so tired of this “I’ll do what works for me, you do what works for you” take on a public health crisis. And we are never going to get out of this if we cannot start collectively thinking about how our actions impact the people around us._​



I'm still confused about these masks - do they only work one way or are they 2 way masks?   I had to wear a mask this morning in a hospital for only the 2nd or 3rd time since this BS started.  It was given to me by the hospital - one of those blue surgical masks.  You woulda thought since it is a hospital they would have given me an N95.  Anyhow, since I don't wear masks, I wasn't sure how to put this one on.  I may have had it backwards, upside down, inside out - but if it was only a one way mask, I will probably get the sweet-n-sour sickness by Sunday.   But if it's a 2way mask then I'm safe.  Which also means the mother in the above article shouldn't care about what other kids are wearing as long as she makes her daughter wear a face diaper in school.


----------



## Gilligan

TPD said:


> I'm still confused about these masks - do they only work one way or are they 2 way masks?   I had to wear a mask this morning in a hospital for only the 2nd or 3rd time since this BS started.  It was given to me by the hospital - one of those blue surgical masks.  You woulda thought since it is a hospital they would have given me an N95.  Anyhow, since I don't wear masks, I wasn't sure how to put this one on.  I may have had it backwards, upside down, inside out - but if it was only a one way mask, I will probably get the sweet-n-sour sickness by Sunday.   But if it's a 2way mask then I'm safe.  Which also means the mother in the above article shouldn't care about what other kids are wearing as long as she makes her daughter wear a face diaper in school.


You have just killed so many people.....how callous of you...


----------



## Clem72

Gilligan said:


> You have just killed so many people.....how callous of you...



Theoretically, we have 133 deaths in St. Mary's county attributed to COVID. Possible one or more picked it up in TPD's store (or from someone who did).


----------



## Hijinx

Clem72 said:


> Theoretically, we have 133 deaths in St. Mary's county attributed to COVID. Possible one or more picked it up in TPD's store (or from someone who did).



And possibly they didn't.


----------



## TPD

Gilligan said:


> You have just killed so many people.....how callous of you...


Without a weapon - damn I’m good!


----------



## GURPS

Despite Not ‘Following The Science,’ Biden Says Leaders Forcing Masks On Kids Are ‘Heroes’


Scientific studies are clear that COVID-19 transmission among children is much lower than adults but that hasn’t stopped the administration, the CDC, and teachers unions from pushing for students and vaccinated teachers to mask up this fall. As experts wrote in the Wall Street Journal this week, the CDC reports that for the week of July 31 the rate of hospitalization with COVID for children ages 5 to 17 was 0.5 per 100,000, about 250 patients.

A handful of Republican governors and state legislatures took steps to ban mask mandates from public schools but some Democrat-controlled cities are already taking steps to defy them.

Dallas Independent School District in Texas proudly announced this week that it would require face coverings for teachers and students, who are at lower risk of getting or transmitting COVID-19 than they are the seasonal flu, despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s order barring them from doing so.


----------



## GURPS

*‘I’m Upset’: Mayor Who Was Caught Dining Maskless Now Demands Unvaccinated Double-Mask*


 


Kenney also said he is amazed by Philadelphia residents who are hesitant about the vaccine. According to CBS Philly:




> _The city will now require masks indoors at all locations unless vaccinations are required for everyone. Masks will also be required at all outdoor, unseated gatherings of more than 1,000 people.
> For indoor dining, masks will be required unless the restaurant requires proof of vaccination for patrons and staff. There are no changes for outdoor dining, which can continue unrestricted.
> “I’m upset,” Kenney said.
> The mayor expressed frustration that the new mandates are needed because about 30% of the city has not been vaccinated.
> “This amazes me that this is the most simple thing to do to keep yourself safe and your family safe and your community safe and people still refuse to do it,” Kenney said.
> Starting Sept. 1, all city employees will be required to be fully vaccinated if they work inside or be double-masked._



Kenney made headlines in August 2020 when he was busted for eating indoors at his friend’s Maryland restaurant during a time when Philly restaurants were shut down.

Famous Philadelphia chef and restaurateur Marc Vetri blasted Kenney at the time for what he said was an example of hypocrisy.


----------



## Kyle

Always *Rules for Thee, Not for Me*!


----------



## Kyle




----------



## Kyle

CNN Praises Taliban For Wearing Masks During Attack

"Wow! In the midst of the battle and bloodshed, these noble desert knights of Islamic superiority are wearing masks! Bravo!" said Brian Stelter. 

TV anchor and world-renown polemicist Don Lemon was also quick to weigh in. "All things considered, we ought to be praising the COVID-safe masks these majestic mujahideen warriors are wearing," he said. 

"They are showing all of us the proper way to behave during a pandemic—something those horrible idiot Trump supporters don't seem to get."









						CNN Praises Taliban For Wearing Masks During Attack
					

KABUL—Approximately twelve minutes after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, Taliban fighters have completely taken over the entire country.




					babylonbee.com


----------



## Hijinx

Kyle said:


> CNN Praises Taliban For Wearing Masks During Attack
> 
> "Wow! In the midst of the battle and bloodshed, these noble desert knights of Islamic superiority are wearing masks! Bravo!" said Brian Stelter.
> 
> TV anchor and world-renown polemicist Don Lemon was also quick to weigh in. "All things considered, we ought to be praising the COVID-safe masks these majestic mujahideen warriors are wearing," he said.
> 
> "They are showing all of us the proper way to behave during a pandemic—something those horrible idiot Trump supporters don't seem to get."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CNN Praises Taliban For Wearing Masks During Attack
> 
> 
> KABUL—Approximately twelve minutes after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, Taliban fighters have completely taken over the entire country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> babylonbee.com



Next they will be praising ANTIFA for wearing masks.


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...

If this was a real pandemic, each and every one of us would know several people that have died.


----------



## GURPS

*Texas Teacher Cries, Compares Lack Of Mask Mandate To School Shooting*



Some TikTok users suggested that Gillis’ fears might be overblown.

“My son spent all of last year in school 5 days a week with no mask mandate. Yes, there were cases. Nothing serious. No death. No hospitalization,” one TikTok user wrote in a comment.

“Maybe your son is the one who killed my friend Fawn who died in ICU from COVID in July,” Gillis replied.

[clip]

As of Monday, 52,931 people had died from the coronavirus in Texas since the start of the pandemic, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Only 59 of those deaths were people aged 19 years or younger.

A total of 349 children have died from Covid-19 in the last 18 months according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 1% of all pediatric deaths since the pandemic began.



I have a news flash for Gillis ... she can die of MOST ANYTHING  ...


----------



## PrchJrkr

GURPS said:


> *Texas Teacher Cries, Compares Lack Of Mask Mandate To School Shooting*
> 
> 
> 
> Some TikTok users suggested that Gillis’ fears might be overblown.
> 
> “My son spent all of last year in school 5 days a week with no mask mandate. Yes, there were cases. Nothing serious. No death. No hospitalization,” one TikTok user wrote in a comment.
> 
> “Maybe your son is the one who killed my friend Fawn who died in ICU from COVID in July,” Gillis replied.
> 
> [clip]
> 
> As of Monday, 52,931 people had died from the coronavirus in Texas since the start of the pandemic, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Only 59 of those deaths were people aged 19 years or younger.
> 
> A total of 349 children have died from Covid-19 in the last 18 months according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 1% of all pediatric deaths since the pandemic began.
> 
> 
> 
> I have a news flash for Gillis ... she can die of MOST ANYTHING  ...



Don't they give teachers psychiatric screenings before certification?


----------



## Kyle

Just another ****ing hypochondriac. I am so tired of these lunatics.


----------



## GURPS

*The scientific case against masks*


Cultural commentator, Allie Beth Stuckey, has done us all a favor in providing the following compilation of pertinent research and science-based information concerning the question of masks. 

Since the onset of this pandemic, Sweden has never mandated masks. In January 2021, only 12% of Swedes said they wore a mask all the time, and 59% said they never did. The logical question is, how have they fared? Surely, their death rate is astronomical compared to the United States, where 93% of adults report that they sometimes or often wear masks and 72% say they always do. Well, the fact is the Swedes haven’t fared any worse than Americans, and their death rate attributed to Covid19 is lower than that of other countries such as Great Britain, which has imposed draconian mask mandates on its people.

That’s not good enough, you say. You want more than just one sample from a relatively small country in northern Europe. I agree, so consider this:

Israel reinstated its mask mandate for fear that not doing so would overwhelm the health care system (sound familiar?). What did this accomplish? Apparently, nothing in that Israel’s cases have risen at basically the exact same rate as other countries, such as the Netherlands, which did the exact opposite.

The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University wrote as far back as 2010 that masks present no significant effect in interrupting the spread of an influenza virus in the general population or within the ranks of health care workers.

Norway’s Institute for Public Health says that masks are so ineffective as to have minimal effect on the infection rates of the general population.   

The New England Journal of Medicine told us as recently as May 2020 that “We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection” and that, “In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.”

A study from Japan concluded that “Face mask use … has not been demonstrated to provide benefit in terms of getting colds and that a larger study is needed to establish noninferiority of no mask use.”


----------



## Hijinx

There is nothing stopping this frightened woman from wearing a mask. She can wear two if she likes.


----------



## GURPS

Most important, those wearing masks on campus this fall will thus be marked with a scarlet “A,” as persons who – according to the negative implication of everything the colleges say about masking them – have chosen _not _to make the “health, safety, and well-being of every member of this community” their “highest priority.” Those wearing masks will, in other words, stand out as unclean and dangerous – when in scientific fact they certainly are not.

Of course, we do not suggest that colleges should _prohibit _mask-wearing. We recognize that many people might feel more comfortable or secure wearing masks. We suggest the colleges say these people are welcome to do so, so long as the colleges also stipulate that mask-wearing is not mandatory.

This allows both the vaccinated and unvaccinated who are still concerned about infection to choose to mask. By making it a matter of personal choice, the colleges could accommodate everyone, and incidentally remove the unjust stigma and discrimination of the protocols now in place for the school year.









						Why Forcing Unvaccinated Students To Wear Cloth Masks Is Anti-Science
					

The immunity of those who have recovered from COVID and their ability to transmit the virus are not proven to be different than that of the vaccinated.




					thefederalist.com


----------



## DaSDGuy

Over 40 years I smoked cigarettes and not once did I catch an airborne virus.  Using dim/Fauci/Brewster logic we can protect all children from COVID if we require they all smoke in school.  Good luck with that.


----------



## GURPS

DaSDGuy said:


> ....  if we require they all smoke in school.




actually there was some discussion a yr ago, smokers were less likely to get the 'rona


----------



## PrchJrkr

GURPS said:


> actually there was some discussion a yr ago, smokers were less likely to get the 'rona


Woo Hoo!


----------



## GURPS

*Biden Tells Secretary Of Education To Use ‘Legal Actions’ Against Governors Banning Mask Mandates*


“Unfortunately, as we’ve seen throughout this pandemic, some politicians are trying to turn public safety measures — that is, children wearing masks in school — into political disputes for their own political gain. Some are even trying to take power away from local educators by banning masks in school. They’re setting a dangerous tone,” Biden added.

He went on to say, “Today, I am directing the Secretary of Education — an educator himself — to take additional steps to protect our children. This includes using all of his oversight authorities and legal actions, if appropriate, against governors who are trying to block and intimidate local school officials and educators.”

The Biden administration has been looking for ways to get further involved in states’ affairs, specifically taking aim at Florida and Texas where Republican Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, respectively, have signed executive orders banning mask mandates.


----------



## GURPS

*I’m Not Going To Wear A Mask In A County Where No One Is Dying Of COVID* 



The blow might have been softened and resulting ire lessened if there were any reason to believe this action was going to save lives in the county that’s home to Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison. But it’s hard to improve a daily death average of zero.

That inescapable reality — that almost nobody is dying of the Wuhan virus in one of the most vaccinated counties in the country, yet breathing uninhibited is verboten — is the premier form of gaslighting from the ruling class of power-drunk elites.

For a year and a half, well-meaning Americans have complied with anti-science executive decisions and been scorned when they merely disagreed with the conventional wisdom pouring out of the corporate press. Each time, lawmakers and bureaucrats weaponized private businesses to do their dirty work, ordering them to enforce mask-wearing and social distancing and to keep the peasants in line.

They got away with all of that, despite the mitigation measures causing catastrophic side-effects such as a waxing mental health crisis, a massive surge in drug overdoses, and a huge blow to the education and other cognitive development of the next generation, the extent to which we will not possibly be able to ascertain for years to come.


----------



## TPD

More than 1000 kids died from swine flu. Less than 400 kids have died from ‘rona.


----------



## GURPS

TPD said:


> More than 1000 kids died from swine flu. Less than 400 kids have died from ‘rona.




But, but, but .......


----------



## GURPS

*Federal judge blocks Kentucky governor's school mask mandate*


In an eight-page ruling, U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman, a Carter appointee, said Beshear’s order appeared to lack validity after the state legislature earlier this year overrode Beshear's veto to pass a measure limiting his public health authority.

“The Executive Branch cannot simply ignore laws passed by the duly-elected representatives of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Therein lies tyranny. If the citizens dislike the laws passed, the remedy lies with them, at the polls,” wrote Bertelsman, who sits on the federal district court bench in Kentucky’s Eastern District.

The Thursday ruling was not a final decision on the merits. Rather, it afforded temporary relief in response to a lawsuit brought by parents of students at a Catholic school in Cold Spring, Ky.

The dispute arose shortly after Beshear’s executive order signing on Aug. 10. The order was set to last for 30 days, with the possibility of being extended.


----------



## Kyle




----------



## Sneakers

The masks now WAY outnumber the unmasked everywhere I went today.   CVS "recommends" masks even if you're vax'd.

We're going backwards, folks.


----------



## Kyle

When I was in BJ’s today, nearly everyone in the store had a mask. Clerks and customers.


----------



## Sneakers

Kyle said:


> When I was in BJ’s today, nearly everyone in the store had a mask. Clerks and customers.


Probably walked right by you....


----------



## kwillia

Kyle said:


> When I was in BJ’s today, nearly everyone in the store had a mask. Clerks and customers.


I was in BJs today and found most of us did not have a mask.


----------



## GURPS

*NIH Director Admits School Mask Mandates Enforced on Children Are Not Based on COVID-19 Data *


“It is still pretty rare, but it is not zero, and we now have more than 400 kids that have died of this. So we have to think about that,” he said.

“If they’re unmasked in the classroom, you know what’s going to happen. There’s going to be an outbreak,” he continued. “And then what happens? The kids go back home again. That’s a bad outcome. So even if you’re not worried about their personal health, if you’re worried about the fact that we want them to stay in school, the masks may be an important way to achieve that.”

Hewitt, who was unimpressed with Collins’s use of the word “may,” notes that K–3 students are vulnerable to speech development problems that affect the rest of their lives if they can’t see people’s full faces. He then moved to ask whether there is data showing that kids in grade K-3 “are at greater risk of hospitalization or illness of serious sort from taking their mask off.”

“I wish we had that data,” Collins replied. “But Hugh, I don’t think you’re hearing me. It’s not just about that.”

*“You’re worried about what goes on. But you just said there’s no data,” said Hewitt. “So you guys are guessing.”*


----------



## stgislander

The Walmart greeter in Gulfport today told everyone entering that Walmart RECOMMENDED wearing masks.


----------



## Grumpy

I thought Walmart got rid of the greeters


----------



## Kyle

Sneakers said:


> Probably walked right by you....


Did you see a fat guy, with half a head of hair, shorts, black socks and Jesus sandals?


----------



## Sneakers

Kyle said:


> Did you see a fat guy, with half a head of hair, shorts, black socks and Jesus sandals?


Lots of them....


----------



## stgislander

Grumpy said:


> I thought Walmart got rid of the greeters


She made sure carts were available, and that you knew there were wipes to wipe your cart down.


----------



## TPD

Well duh!



> “The results show that a standard surgical and three-ply cloth masks … filter at apparent efficiencies of only 12.4% and 9.8%, respectively,” according to the University of Waterloo study’s conclusion.
> But KN95 and N95 masks afford “substantially higher apparent filtration efficiencies (60% and 46% for R95 and KN95 masks, respectively) than the more commonly used cloth (10%) and surgical masks (12%), and therefore are still the recommended choice in mitigating airborne disease transmission indoors,” reads a summary of the study, published July 21.



https://nypost.com/2021/08/22/study-finds-n95-masks-more-effective-than-surgical-cloth-masks/


----------



## Sneakers

When we were first told to wear masks, weren't we told that (K)N95 masks were not for the common folk, and we had no need for them?


----------



## GURPS

Ooo 60 and 46 %


----------



## GURPS

Tannahill Glenn, who calls herself a "Board certified Clinical Neuropsychologist," responded that the AAP tweet was "alarmingly blithe" given reams of peer-reviewed research on "face processing, social cognition development, emotion recognition & speech/Lang [sic] acquisition."

Another user pointed to new Brown University research, awaiting peer review, on a plunge in cognitive, verbal and motor skills among children born during the pandemic, which was partially attributed to difficulty reading facial cues from masked adults.

A Georgia mother may have been the first to highlight the disappearance of an AAP primer that seems to run counter to the group's new narrative on faces.

"Face Time and Emotional Health" has been online at least since late 2015 through Aug. 11, the day before AAP's tweet thread. "I know because I remember getting it as a new mom, so _ looked it up last week - WAS STILL THERE," the mother tweeted early Wednesday. "Will never listen to them again."


_


A D.C. transit activist flagged other disappeared resources that repeatedly emphasize the importance of parents and infants interacting with bare faces. 
Four to five month-olds can "[c]opy some of the sounds you say and the looks on your face," says a primer on books for that age group: "Act out pictures using your face" and "Copy the sounds your baby makes and the looks on her face."

"'Social referencing' is your baby’s ability to read your face when sizing up a stranger," the 9-month-old primer says. "If you smile at your baby and use soothing words, you are giving him clear signals that everything is fine. … Be aware of what you and your face are 'saying' every day."



_








						Pro-mask pediatrics group denies scrubbing resources on importance of faces in child development
					

New recommendations on "universal masking" for kids over 2 coincided with a website migration, American Academy of Pediatrics says.




					justthenews.com
				



_


----------



## Hijinx

We were told the masks would stop the Covid, they don't
We were told to get vaccinated to be safe, we aren't.

Take this mask and shove it. I aint wearin it no more.


----------



## GURPS

Hijinx said:


> Take this mask and shove it. I aint wearin it no more.




Johnny Paycheck is ringing in my ears


----------



## GURPS

*Illinois apologizes to anti-mask mandate school board member for threatening medical license*


"I sincerely apologize for the tone and content of those communications" Henrichs received from an IDFPR investigator, general counsel Dina Torrisi Martin wrote to Henrichs' lawyer Thursday.

The investigator had asked him for a "detailed statement on your opinion about masks, and whether you support and will enforce a mask mandate based on your elected position as a school board member." Martin said that is "information that the Department does not need."

IDFPR acting secretary Mario Treto released a statement saying its "preliminary review of this complaint has concluded and the strong recommendation to the Medical Disciplinary Board," the final judge, "will be that this complaint be closed." He said a new law takes effect in January that allows the board to close medical complaints that "do not have merit."


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...

Good information site ...






						COVID-19 Info – PureHealth Functional Family Medicine
					






					purehealthmed.com


----------



## GURPS

*DeSantis and Abbott's Opposition to Masking Children Is Finding Agreement From Unlikely Sources*



As highlighted by Fox News, many developed countries have come to the same conclusion as Abbott and DeSantis in that it’s unnecessary to mask children, if not irresponsible to do so:



> The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, an agency of the European Union, does not recommend masks for children 6 and under in any setting or for children 12 and under in a classroom setting. In the Republic of Ireland, children ages 13 and younger are only advised to wear a mask if they attend middle school. In Sweden, children have never been told to wear masks in school.
> In Iceland, children ages 15 and younger are exempt from mask requirements. In Norway, schoolchildren 7 and younger are not required to wear masks. When it comes to the U.K., which is reporting a similar COVID-19 surge as the U.S., public health officials in England and Wales are no longer recommending masks in classrooms starting this September. In Scotland, children 12 and under are no longer required to wear face coverings in public places. And officials in Northern Ireland have indicated they plan to drop masking requirements in schools this fall.
> In New Zealand, masks are not recommended in schools or for children younger than 6 in any public setting, but children or teachers who wish to wear them “may do so if they want to” and “should not be criticized for doing so,” the country’s Ministry for Education website currently states.


----------



## kom526

My LW would wholly disagree with the AAP's assertion (BS) that early childhood speech development can be effected by mask wearing.


----------



## Sneakers

I was surprised today by one vendor's requirement to mask.  Harley Davidson in Hughesville.  Of all places, a bike shop.  But according to the sign, it's mandated by Calvert County, so they didn't have much choice.


----------



## Grumpy

Hughesville is Charles County, isn't it?


----------



## Sneakers

Grumpy said:


> Hughesville is Charles County, isn't it?


Yeah.  Another brain fart.  Lots of those lately....


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...

Yeah well. Calvert County "public transportation" buses have a sign on the door that says the "TSA mandates the wearing of masks" on County buses before anyone can enter with threat of being denied a ride, kicked off, or fined. County government pussies. Aka lack of leadership. State sovereignty? What State sovereignty?


----------



## UglyBear

Sneakers said:


> Yeah.  Another brain fart.  Lots of those lately....


You running for President soon?


----------



## Sneakers

UglyBear said:


> You running for President soon?


I'd give him a good run for his money, methinks.....


----------



## GURPS

But it’s actually worse. . .

Last week, Masters said the school board knows  what “is best for the students and teachers here in our district” in response to Gov. Bill Lee signing an executive order giving students an opt-out on masks, which Masters herself just took advantage of:


> “I believe that this is a case where we have to exert that local control,” said MNPS Board Member Emily Masters. “We have to look at what we know is best for the students and teachers here in our district.”












						Nashville school board member who voted for mandatory masks for students can't keep her mask on while reading a paragraph
					

"We are run by idiots."




					twitchy.com


----------



## GURPS

*The ACLU Is Suing To Give The Government More Power To Mask Your Kids* 


The leftist activist group, which represents several parents of children with disabilities and other groups, is targeting Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, his administration, and certain school districts for prohibiting face-covering requirements because they say the rule “effectively exclude these students with disabilities from participation in the public education system, in violation of the [Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act].”

“School districts with students who have disabilities, including underlying medical conditions, that make them more likely to contract and/or become severely ill from a COVID-19 infection have a legal obligation to ensure that those children can attend school with the knowledge that the school district has followed recommended protocols to ensure their safety,” the lawsuit states, citing the CDC’s anti-science universal masking protocols for children as young as two years old.

“By prohibiting any school from imposing a mask mandate, Proviso 1.108 interferes with that school’s ability to comply with its obligations under federal disability rights laws and illegally forces parents of children with underlying conditions to choose between their child’s education and their child’s health and safety, in violation of the ADA and Section 504,” it continues. “Further, such a prohibition needlessly and unconscionably exposes South Carolina school children and their families to a heightened risk of infection, hospitalization, and death.”


----------



## GURPS

so much for Masking and Covid Protocols 

a year and a half of school locks downs  ... one day back at school, a half day at that, my 16 yr old brings home a virus .... since she has her taste and smell her pediatrician does not think she has the 'rona [ testing today ] but she definatly has some virus ....


----------



## Hijinx

She didn't get it at school. No virus shows up in a day.


----------



## Sneakers

Incubation time is a lot longer than one day.


----------



## GURPS

her 1st day was Friday ....


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...

Was wondering when a defense such as this would be used ....









						Security guard who shot man 3 times acted in self defense because the victim wasn't wearing a COVID mask, lawyer says
					

A liquor store security guard was acting in self defense when he shot a customer three times because the customer was "putting other's lives at risk by not wearing a [COVID] mask," the guard's private defense attorney said.




					cwbchicago.com


----------



## GURPS

*More One-Side-of-the-Ledger Thinking from the ACLU*



The ACLU is suing South Carolina for leaving the question of masking in schools up to parents. Per the organization:



> Disability rights groups and parents of children with disabilities filed a federal lawsuit today challenging a South Carolina law that bans school districts from imposing mask mandates in schools. The parents and disability rights groups represent students whose disability, including underlying health conditions, makes them particularly susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19, and argue that the ban on mask mandates effectively excludes these students from public schools, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.




With masks, though, it’s more complicated than that. Some people with disabilities may indeed be hurt by the lack of a mask mandate. But others may be hurt by the presence of one. And one cannot accomodate one of those people without affecting the other.

On its website, the CDC acknowledges that any “person with a disability who cannot wear a mask, or cannot safely wear a mask, for reasons related to the disability” should be “exempt from the requirement to wear a mask.” Well, what happens when that disabled person meets the other disabled person who needs everybody to be wearing one? If “public schools cannot exclude students with disabilities, deny them equal access to their education, or segregate them unnecessarily,” that presumably works in both directions? And if it does, why would we automatically assume that the onus is in favor of, rather than against, a mandate?






Covid has a 97.3 % survival rate ...
What are they afraid of ...

If their clients have such a weekend immune system they should probably stay at home and never go out ..
their are more dieases then Covid floating around


----------



## GURPS

*Colorado High School Students Stage Walkout To Protest Mask Mandate*



Students and parents all over Douglas County, Colorado took to the streets Wednesday morning to protest a countywide school mask mandate.

The organized walkout reportedly occurred around 9:30 a.m., just two days after the county's health department issued a mask order requiring all staff and students from preschool to 12th grade to wear masks (via The Denver Channel).



> Some of the loudest voices were heard at Thunder Ridge High School.
> "These people agree with me. They hate masks, and I do too," said Thunder Ridge student Cole Bradley of the students behind him.
> "I believe that masks, they’ve been going from mostly two years now, this is going to be the third year of my high school career that’s compromised. I want a normal high school career there. If you are scared you could stay home," said student Austin Knapp.
> Thunder Ridge High School students were joined by Ranch View Middle School students and their parents.
> "There’s enough parents, and there’s enough scientific data to show otherwise, that this is just not a necessary option that they have to take, and there are enough students that feel the same way," said parent Amy Ellis.
> Around the same time, students at Legend High School took to the streets.




As the United Kingdom and other places around the world begin to understand the lack of real data or science behind masking students and drop their school masking requirements, counties in the U.S. continue to double down. It's going to take direct action and, yes, civil disobedience like this, as well as voting pro-masking school board members out of office at the earliest opportunity, to turn this thing around. This is definitely a good start.


----------



## GURPS

*UK: We Are Changing Our School Masking Guidance, and Recommending...Even Fewer Masks*

Regular readers are already aware that multiple foreign governments are not requiring masking in classrooms, based on their data and experience. We recently quoted a New York Magazine deep dive into the evidence on this issue, which has become controversial and political in the United States. Not so much elsewhere: "Many of America’s peer nations around the world — including the U.K., Ireland, all of Scandinavia, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy — have exempted kids, with varying age cutoffs, from wearing masks in classrooms," the piece reported, alongside this key piece of information: "Conspicuously, there’s no evidence of more outbreaks in schools in those countries relative to schools in the U.S., where the solid majority of kids wore masks for an entire academic year." As we've also pointed out, the European Union's CDC recommends no masking in schools for kids under the age of 12. Having weathered a difficult Delta variant surge, the UK government recently shifted its guidance on this subject – further _away from_ in-school masking:


----------



## GURPS

*A Scientist Delved Into 100 Studies on Mask Efficacy and the Nicest Thing He Can Say Is It's 'Questionable'*



Yong writes that he first tried to use Google to find the evidence he was looking for, but due to a lack of “concrete info” to be found on the world’s most popular search engine, he ended up going to PubMed, “a biomedical literature database,” where he “looked through over 100 indexed papers about cloth masks.”

A meta-analysis published last month showed, not surprisingly, that “wearing N95s and surgical masks decreased the risk of respiratory infections by 33% and 17%, respectively, compared to no mask” at all, Yong says.

Production of N95 masks is highly regulated, making them more difficult for consumers to buy.

[clip]

Wearing a more typical, cheaper, easier-to-buy, double-layered cloth mask, however, “*increased infection risk instead by a staggering 380% versus no mask*.” [Emphasis added] This is according to another meta-analysis of data from a number of studies from around the world.

Another study Yong quoted “found an 11% reduction in influenza-like illnesses in those who wore masks, but this result did not reach statistical significance.” Also, that study failed to differentiate between people wearing N95 masks, surgical masks, or more common cloth masks.


----------



## GURPS

*Another Reason Schools Can’t Force Masks On Kids: Their Rights To Free Speech* 


As much as “authorities” drone on about how masks save lives, they just don’t have the supporting data. Anyone with the least bit of knowledge on this topic knows the virus is simply too small to be contained by a mask. Plus, a child’s eyes are wide open, and the virus can get in that way, too.

Consider some other sources. Remember, as recently as December, the World Health Organization said: “At present there is only limited and inconsistent scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of masking of healthy people in the community to prevent infection with respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (75).” Furthermore, the WHO lists a bunch of potential harms from wearing masks, and those need to be taken into consideration.

The WHO went so far as to acknowledge that there are emotional and political aspects to mask-wearing. One of the WHO’s benefits to mask wearing is “making people feel they can play a role in contributing to stopping spread of the virus.” People may feel good wearing a mask because they think they’re helping stop the spread, but that doesn’t mean what they’re doing is actually working.


----------



## GURPS

*Universal Masking in Hospitals in the Covid-19 Era *


----------



## Sneakers

GURPS said:


> Plus, a child’s eyes are wide open,


Not to dispute, but my eyes were barely open during class....


----------



## stgislander

Well the panic porn must be working.  Have you seen the poll on The Baynet whether kids should wear masks to school?


----------



## Grumpy

I was out and about yesterday morning, went to 5 different stores to pick up various items. I have really seen an uptick in mask wearing, a month ago you would see about 1 in 10 with a mask, yesterday, it was well of 50% wearing masks. Strange times.


----------



## TPD

Grumpy said:


> I was out and about yesterday morning, went to 5 different stores to pick up various items. I have really seen an uptick in mask wearing, a month ago you would see about 1 in 10 with a mask, yesterday, it was well of 50% wearing masks. Strange times.


which is the way it should be - choice, not mandated.  But something tells me by November, Larry will flex his fat for another mandate....


----------



## Hijinx

Grumpy said:


> I was out and about yesterday morning, went to 5 different stores to pick up various items. I have really seen an uptick in mask wearing, a month ago you would see about 1 in 10 with a mask, yesterday, it was well of 50% wearing masks. Strange times.



I am one of the 50% without a mask.


----------



## TPD

Is this the Bee?


----------



## Kyle




----------



## Hijinx

TPD said:


> Is this the Bee?




Did she really pick up a turd with that mask and put it back on?
Tell me my eyes lied.


----------



## TPD

Hijinx said:


> Did she really pick up a turd with that mask and put it back on?
> Tell me my eyes lied.


that's what it looked like to me. pretty darn disgusting


----------



## rio

Hijinx said:


> Did she really pick up a turd with that mask and put it back on?
> Tell me my eyes lied.


NOW I know why people should double mask! One for the turd, one for the turd face!


----------



## PrchJrkr

That _was _pretty gross. It looks like she at least didn't put it back on poopside in. 

Upon a second viewing, I'm not so sure now.


----------



## UglyBear

TPD said:


> that's what it looked like to me. pretty darn disgusting


She really did.  You can see the moment of hesitation when she considers it, looks at the mask, gives it a smell test, and then plows ahead and puts it on.   Libtardation is stronger than dog poop.


----------



## PeoplesElbow

That's porn actress Mia Khalifa, she has had a lot worse in her face.


----------



## GURPS

*Pathetic Mask-Nazi Prof Whines About 'Emotional Hellscape' of Unmasked Students*


Public school teachers and academics have been protected classes for a very long time in America, pretty much doing whatever they want with impunity. The pandemic has exposed just how fragile, inane, and lazy they are. Much to their chagrin, they’ve also lost some of their authoritarian edge in red states:




> Professors say that the lack of clear rules this year has made it harder to function. Last year, the rules may have been draconian — possible expulsion for attending parties, for instance — but they were also clear and effective, the professors said.
> Last fall, “I could call the police if I wanted to,” said Leslie Kaplan, who teaches folklore at the University of North Florida. This year, she has to use the art of persuasion.



I bet she misses being able to call the cops on her wrongthinking students. That seems like something commie college professors would like to have available all of the time for a variety of things.

There is, of course, a less hysterical perspective on all of this, but you aren’t likely to find anyone in the upper echelons of academia sharing it. Here is a take that is more grounded in emotional reality:



> Alex Vargas, a senior at the University of Texas, is not vaccinated and, in the first week of school, he was the only person not wearing a mask in his small engineering class.
> The professor, who was wearing a mask, called for a vote in class on whether students wanted him to wear a mask or “didn’t care,” Mr. Vargas recalled. The “didn’t cares” won by a vote or two, and the professor said he would keep his mask on, Mr. Vargas said.
> “There were no snarky remarks, no ‘I’m not going to talk to you, not going to look at you,’” Mr. Vargas, the chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas on campus, said, of his own choice to go unmasked. “It was just, ‘That’s his choice, move on.’”


----------



## TPD

I was on the Eastern Shore today. I stopped at the Queenstown Outlet Shopping Center On the way home. Only needed to go in one store to check for one item. I walked in and immediately was asked if I had a mask. Nope. I was offered one - said nope medical exemption. Was told it was a requirement - I said there is nothing in here I need and walked out. Glanced at some doors of other stores and saw mask signs.

So I just checked Queen Anne County website. I see nothing about mask requirements. I checked Simon Properties website (owner of the outlet center) - they state if local or state laws don’t require masks then the outlet center stores don’t require them. What am I missing here?


----------



## Sneakers

TPD said:


> What am I missing here?


Your picture is posted everywhere.  You're a legend....


----------



## PrchJrkr

Sneakers said:


> Your picture is posted everywhere.  You're a legend....


That's what he gets for breaking with anonymity, damned individualists.


----------



## TPD

Sneakers said:


> Your picture is posted everywhere.  You're a legend....


Even in another county?! FML


----------



## PrchJrkr

TPD said:


> Even in another county?! FML


"Notorious T.P.D."


----------



## spr1975wshs

I have just recovered from a pretty bad, non-COVID virus, and have been masking when required or asked.


----------



## SamSpade

TPD said:


> I was on the Eastern Shore today. I stopped at the Queenstown Outlet Shopping Center On the way home. Only needed to go in one store to check for one item. I walked in and immediately was asked if I had a mask. Nope. I was offered one - said nope medical exemption. Was told it was a requirement - I said there is nothing in here I need and walked out. Glanced at some doors of other stores and saw mask signs.
> 
> So I just checked Queen Anne County website. I see nothing about mask requirements. I checked Simon Properties website (owner of the outlet center) - they state if local or state laws don’t require masks then the outlet center stores don’t require them. What am I missing here?



Don't know. But wife and I went into Dollar Tree yesterday - and they said you had to wear a mask, vaccinated or not. Don't know of any other stores doing this yet. MOST still have "suggestion" but usually if vaccinated, don't worry about it.

My kid's Tae Kwon Do makes them wear masks - and I've seen kids walk over and sit down because they can't breathe.

Now we have medical places saying they won't treat people who have not been vaccinated. So let me understand this - if you get COVID _and_ you've been vaccinated - you'll be seen - but if you don't have COVID, aren't showing symptoms of COVID but have not been vaccinated - you won't be seen?


----------



## GURPS

*CDC tightened masking guidelines after threats from teachers union, emails show*


The new emails show further coordination between the White House and teachers unions just months after reports highlighted the extent the unions had influenced the administration's messaging on school reopenings. The watchdog group Americans for Public Trust obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request and provided them to Fox News.

The CDC announced on May 13 that fully vaccinated Americans could stop wearing masks indoors and outside, which sparked confusion about how this policy would apply to schools.

One day later, on May 14, Erika Dinkel-Smith, the White House director of labor engagement, said she stopped the NEA from releasing a critical statement that had called for immediate clarification.

"Would you know when Dr. Wolensky would be able to call NEA-Pres. Becky Pringle?" Dinkel-Smith wrote in the email. "They've gotten significant incoming and are getting targeted for a response from the media. I've gotten them to hold on their statement calling for clarification."


----------



## RoseRed

TPD said:


> I was on the Eastern Shore today. I stopped at the Queenstown Outlet Shopping Center On the way home. Only needed to go in one store to check for one item. I walked in and immediately was asked if I had a mask. Nope. I was offered one - said nope medical exemption. Was told it was a requirement - I said there is nothing in here I need and walked out. Glanced at some doors of other stores and saw mask signs.
> 
> So I just checked Queen Anne County website. I see nothing about mask requirements. I checked Simon Properties website (owner of the outlet center) - they state if local or state laws don’t require masks then the outlet center stores don’t require them. What am I missing here?


I was over there for the weekend.  Some stores had the masking signs up on the doors.  We ignored them and were never asked to mask up.  Maybe it was our RBFs.


----------



## kom526

RoseRed said:


> I was over there for the weekend.  Some stores had the masking signs up on the doors.  We ignored them and were never asked to mask up.  Maybe it was our RBFs.


#Spamalot


----------



## RoseRed

kom526 said:


> #Spamalot


----------



## TPD

RoseRed said:


> I was over there for the weekend.  Some stores had the masking signs up on the doors.  We ignored them and were never asked to mask up.  Maybe it was our RBFs.


oh please please teach me how to do the RBF


----------



## RoseRed




----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*Mask mandate and use efficacy for COVID-19 containment in US States *


----------



## TPD

GURPS said:


> *Mask mandate and use efficacy for COVID-19 containment in US States *





> Conclusions: We did not observe association between mask mandates or use and reduced COVID-19 spread in US states. COVID-19 mitigation requires further research and use of existing efficacious strategies, most notably vaccination.


----------



## GURPS

Studies have shown little statistical difference between States / Countries with make mandates and those without


----------



## GURPS

*Fact Check: NPR Claims Scientific Evidence in Favor of School Masking Is 'Conclusive.' It's Not.*







Notice the title of the piece is framed as a snarky fact check of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose parental opt-out policy is generally in line with Europe's approach (in fact, it's arguably _more_ pro-school masking in some ways). But as writer A.G. Hamilton notes, the supposed evidence doesn't support the confident substance and tone of the headline. "This is selective misinformation," he writes. "CDC's own study determined that 'lower incidence in schools that required mask use among students was not statistically significant compared with schools where mask use was optional.' Europe has come to same conclusion." The difference in COVID spread between masks-required and masks-optional schools was statistically insignificant, according to a CDC study. More context: 



> A CDC study of Georgia schools published in May...found that COVID-19 infection was 37% less common in schools that required teachers and other staff members to wear masks, similar to the difference associated with “improved ventilation.” But* the same study found that requiring students to wear masks was not associated with a statistically significant reduction in case rates.* In Florida, the CDC found that school districts without mask mandates had higher infection rates. But the researchers noted that smaller districts were less likely to require masks, and they also “had a higher proportion of students attending in-person instruction,” which likewise was “positively correlated with the student case rate.” The CDC says “most studies that have shown success in limiting transmission in schools” involved “prevention strategies” that included requiring “staff only or staff and students” to wear masks. The implication, of course, is that some schools had “success in limiting transmission” even without mask mandates or with mandates that did not apply to students. *In Florida, where many districts did not require masks, the CDC found that less than 1% of students were infected in schools during the first semester after they reopened in August 2020. During the same period, school-related COVID-19 outbreaks were likewise a minor problem in England, where students were not required to wear masks.*


----------



## stgislander

Well... it is NPR.


----------



## my-thyme

Had my piano tuned last week. Tuner was donning his mask as he walked to my door. 

Told him he was more than welcome to wear the mask if it made him more comfortable, but he was wearing it for himself, not for me. And it was my home and I would not be putting one on for either of us. 

He quickly shoved it in his pocket, came in, spent 2 hours there, offered advice on other repairs to be made to the old girl, took my money, and left.

He could have retreated without tuning my piano, but didn't. And I was not condescending when speaking of the mask. I would have been perfectly ok if he had chosen to wear it.


----------



## RoseRed

my-thyme said:


> Had my piano tuned last week. Tuner was donning his mask as he walked to my door.
> 
> Told him he was more than welcome to wear the mask if it made him more comfortable, but he was wearing it for himself, not for me. And it was my home and I would not be putting one on for either of us.
> 
> He quickly shoved it in his pocket, came in, spent 2 hours there, offered advice on other repairs to be made to the old girl, took my money, and left.
> 
> He could have retreated without tuning my piano, but didn't. And I was not condescending when speaking of the mask. I would have been perfectly ok if he had chosen to wear it.


I had a plumber here several months ago.  I told him he didn't need to wear it either.  Although, he chose to due to severe cat allergies.


----------



## Kyle

my-thyme said:


> He could have retreated without tuning my piano, but didn't. And I was not condescending when speaking of the mask. I would have been perfectly ok if he had chosen to wear it.



That is the difference.

Leaving people to make their own choices vs. the germitards FORCING others to comply with their fears.


----------



## my-thyme

I am sure he goes into homes where everyone, including the poodle, wears a mask, and hand sanitizer is foisted on him every 15 minutes.


----------



## Kyle




----------



## Kyle




----------



## Kyle




----------



## Kyle




----------



## GURPS

*Stanford Faculty Smear Professor Who Accurately Summarized Data On Masks*



Open scientific discourse is especially critical during a public health crisis such as a pandemic. Academics should be free to pursue knowledge wherever it may lead, without undue or unreasonable interference. It is deeply troubling when scientists try to limit rather than engage in scientific debate.

[clip]

The petitioners are upset that “several Stanford faculty members have publicly advocated for policies for others that are contrary to those the university has adopted” and that “these recommendations are disturbing and contrary to public health standards; they foster uncertainty and anxiety and put lives at risk.”

[clip]

Randomized trials provide the best available research evidence to inform health-care decisions and are considered the gold standard for determining intervention effects. *But no randomized studies have shown that masks in children are effective. *Instead, there are observational studies of uneven quality that reach conflicting conclusions.

For example, a widely publicized observational study from Duke University showed very little COVID in North Carolina schools with mask mandates. Shockingly, the study did not have a control group to compare schools with and without masks. By comparison, Sweden also had little COVID in children and teachers without using masks in their schools.

[clip]

While adults differ from children, there have been two randomized COVID studies evaluating masks on adults. Based on the 95 percent confidence intervals, surgical mask wearers in Denmark were between 23 percent _more_ likely and 46 percent less likely to be infected by COVID.

In a Bangladesh study, surgical masks reduced symptomatic COVID infections by between 0 and 22 percent, while the efficacy of cloth masks led to somewhere between an 11 percent _increase_ to a 21 percent decrease. Hence, based on these randomized studies, adult masks appear to have either no or limited efficacy.


[clip]

*Most European countries do not mask their young children, and the United Kingdom’s government has “determined that it is no longer necessary to recommend the additional precautionary face-covering measures” in educational settings.* It is hard to understand how any scientist can claim there is high-quality evidence that masks on children are an effective public health measure. But, whatever one’s views on the matter, that is a debate that should be encouraged.


----------



## Hijinx

This whole thing was planned and staged to get rid of President Trump.
Now it is just an experiment to see how long the Government can mandate a silly regulation before people get tired of it and start disobeying.


----------



## Gilligan

If this was previously posted...let me know.


----------



## GURPS

*New Emails Show Teachers' Unions Strong-Armed Biden Administration on School Mask Policy*


Schoffstall has screenshots of the emails. Joe Biden doesn’t have much of a record relating to accomplishment. If the House is retaken by the GOP, the Biden agenda is over. He needs everyone in the Democratic coalition to remain united. He cannot afford to piss off teachers’ union, their supporters, or their vast war chests for political campaigns. It’s funny. I was told this was about saving lives and following the science. It’s about money, control, and winning elections. It’s politics. You all knew that. There are some who still think this science fiction theater the Biden White House, the CDC, and Anthony Fauci are producing is about public health and safety. 

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattv...enied-existed-n2595979?utm_campaign=inarticle


----------



## Kyle

Thousands Come To Worship At Miraculous Mask Stain That Looks Just Like Fauci











						Thousands Come To Worship At Miraculous Mask Stain That Looks Just Like Fauci
					

REDMOND, WA—In what many call a “science miracle,” a mask worn by four-year-old Addison Stephens developed a stain that some say looks just like Dr. Anthony Fauci.“I was so surprised when I saw it,” said Delores Stephens, the mother of Addison. After the Stephenses returned home from Addison’s...




					babylonbee.com


----------



## GURPS

The World Health Organization has advised against masking children five years old and younger, writing:


> _WHO advises that people always consult and abide by local authorities on recommended practices in their area. An international and multidisciplinary expert group brought together by WHO reviewed evidence on COVID-19 disease and transmission in children and the limited available evidence on the use of masks by children.
> Based on this and other factors such as childrens’ psychosocial needs and developmental milestones, WHO and UNICEF advise the following:  Children aged 5 years and under should not be required to wear masks. This is based on the safety and overall interest of the child and the capacity to appropriately use a mask with minimal assistance._













						Viral Video Shows Day-Care Worker Forcing Toddler To Mask. Megyn Kelly Blasts: ‘This Is So Wrong’’ | The Daily Wire
					






					www.dailywire.com


----------



## GURPS




----------



## Kyle

Liberal Annoyed His Mask Hides How Smug He Looks For Wearing A Mask









						Liberal Annoyed His Mask Hides How Smug He Looks For Wearing A Mask
					

PORTLAND, OR—Local liberal man Patrick Verde wears a mask everywhere, but there's just one problem: nobody can see how smug he looks over his superiority for wearing a mask. "If nobody can see how smug I look, what's the point?" he lamented to the Portland Politburo. "I'm so much better than...




					babylonbee.com


----------



## Sneakers

I was just watching the NHK News.  Japan has deployed robots that roll around spouting messages to maintain social distancing, and have cameras that report back to a central site to make sure masks are being worn.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*After Mandating Masks Outdoors, Oregon’s Active COVID-19 Cases Increased 73 Percent*


“Cases and hospitalizations are at a record high,” said Governor Brown. “Masks are a quick and simple tool we can immediately deploy to protect ourselves and our families, and quickly help stop further spread of COVID-19.”

On August 24, Oregon had 49,889 active cases of COVID-19. As of yesterday, Oregon had 86,623 active …


----------



## GURPS

*GOP Nevada Lt. Gov Candidate Tackled by Mask Police at Public Meeting*




The incident occurred after security harassed protesters in the meeting, including some women. Miller stood up and asked security to back away and stop intimidating the protesting citizens. The protest erupted after the Clark County board voted 5-2 that “COVID misinformation” was a “public health crisis.” Protesters rightly believe that the board has no right to vote away the First Amendment right to speak about certain topics, including their theories on COVID and what is or is not “misinformation.”

When Miller would not back down, security officers violently dragged him from the meeting and threw him through a metal detector. Miller can be seen on the video having a difficult time recovering from the attack, Members of the crowd called 911. Miller’s medical status is unknown at this time.

Miller can be heard on the video shouting, “You’re not going to shove me around anymore…[indecipherable]…and there’s no way you’re going to stop me from protecting these people’s f***ing rights. Do you understand me?”


----------



## GURPS

*THIS PSYCHOLOGICAL TRICK COULD GET PEOPLE TO FOLLOW COVID-19 RULES*


They conducted experiments to see what would persuade people in this grey area to change their behavior and consistently follow Covid-19 safety protocols. The results of that study, published Tuesday in the journal _Basic and Applied Social Psychology_, suggest behavior can change if you put into practice two actions:

Inducing cognitive dissonance by asking a person to advocate for an action
Asking them to remember when they didn’t follow through with that action
Lead author Logan Pearce, a Ph.D. candidate, tells _Inverse _her team used “the hypocrisy paradigm to induce hypocrisy. “Induced hypocrisy may initially sound pejorative, but in psychology, it is a statement rather than a judgment,” she explains. “Induced hypocrisy works by having people advocate the importance of some behavior and recall times when they did not follow this behavior.”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FIRST — Essential to the experiment is the notion of cognitive dissonance: in which a person holds two contradictory beliefs in their mind at the same time.

Previous research out of Princeton’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology suggests cognitive dissonance could be part of an effective strategy in changing attitudes about Covid-19 mitigation measures. Participants were asked to:

Rank Covid-19 mitigation strategies from most to least effective in preventing the spread of the virus
Estimate the percentage of people who would contract Covid-19 if the practice was followed or not followed


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...



GURPS said:


> *THIS PSYCHOLOGICAL TRICK COULD GET PEOPLE TO FOLLOW COVID-19 RULES*
> 
> 
> They conducted experiments to see what would persuade people in this grey area to change their behavior and consistently follow Covid-19 safety protocols. The results of that study, published Tuesday in the journal _Basic and Applied Social Psychology_, suggest behavior can change if you put into practice two actions:
> 
> Inducing cognitive dissonance by asking a person to advocate for an action
> Asking them to remember when they didn’t follow through with that action
> Lead author Logan Pearce, a Ph.D. candidate, tells _Inverse _her team used “the hypocrisy paradigm to induce hypocrisy. “Induced hypocrisy may initially sound pejorative, but in psychology, it is a statement rather than a judgment,” she explains. “Induced hypocrisy works by having people advocate the importance of some behavior and recall times when they did not follow this behavior.”
> 
> WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FIRST — Essential to the experiment is the notion of cognitive dissonance: in which a person holds two contradictory beliefs in their mind at the same time.
> 
> Previous research out of Princeton’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology suggests cognitive dissonance could be part of an effective strategy in changing attitudes about Covid-19 mitigation measures. Participants were asked to:
> 
> Rank Covid-19 mitigation strategies from most to least effective in preventing the spread of the virus
> Estimate the percentage of people who would contract Covid-19 if the practice was followed or not followed


This whole experience has been physiological warfare being used against us from the beginning of the scam. In addition to the "conditioning" from decades of movies and shows planting those fear seeds. Just like the movie _Contagion._ Which had nearly a 100% participation of the CDC in the making of that movie.

Then




__





						CDC Director on 'Contagion': Deadly Viruses Could Spread Fast
					

This is a movie, not a documentary, but you could see it play out in real life: The CDC identifies a new infectious disease every year




					www.theatlantic.com
				




Now, but with revelations.








						How the CDC used the movie ‘Contagion’ to exploit the anthrax plot and increase their staff and budgets
					

Newly released documents have revealed the extent of the CDC’s role in the 2011 film, and how they milked the positive publicity. But they also beg the question why they weren’t more prepared for a real pandemic, like Covid.




					www.rt.com


----------



## TPD

Australia- a free country?


----------



## GURPS

*New COVID-19 Data Supports Ending School Mask Mandates*


A new study from the United Kingdom provides some great news about kids and COVID-19. The study looks at contacts of patients with a positive PCR test. It covers the time period when the Alpha variant was dominant through when the Delta variant became the most common. First, let’s celebrate the good news. It does not appear that the rate of children catching and transmitting COVID-19 has changed with the Delta variant.


These graphs show a lower rate of secondary infection, also called transmission, between children and adults in the precise settings where authoritarians like New York Governor Kathy Hochul are mandating masks for young children.









The green line represents work or education settings. The graph on the left shows COVID-19-positive individuals under 20 passing COVID-19 to a person at work or school at a rate of 1 in 10. Below age ten, it is 1 in 20 or less. For young children, this is a significant contrast with the overall study transmission rate. Of the 139,164 contacts of COVID-1- positive individuals studied, 51,789, or 1 in 3.8, tested positive.


----------



## GURPS

*School sees COVID cases decline after court said it can't require masks*


Attorney Thomas DeVore said since securing a temporary restraining order enjoining the Hillsboro school district from mandating masks on children on Sept. 17, cases have gone down.

"I'm not saying that that's conclusive, I'm just saying that that is information that suggests that masks on kids in this classroom is something that may not be necessary to prevent the spread," DeVore said.

Before the TRO, numbers provided by Hillsboro schools show 22 cases in the first week of school. There were 11 cases the following week, then 13 and 11 in subsequent weeks.

In the first week without the mask requirement, after the TRO was issued, five positive cases were reported. Three cases were reported the second week. No staff members reported positive cases during that two-week timeframe.

While acknowledging cases are going down, Hillsboro Superintendent David Powell said there have been other consequences.

"When we were no longer requiring the masks, a lot of our students are not wearing masks, then the close contact tracing radius goes from three feet to six feet so we're identifying a lot more kids as close contacts," Powell said. "But also if both students aren't masked, we lose the option to do the test-to-stay."


----------



## GURPS

*CNN’s Jim Acosta outs employees at Fox News office in DC for wearing masks*



When he was a White House correspondent, CNN’s Jim Acosta was absolutely insufferable. Now that he has his own weekend show on CNN, he’s even more insufferable than previously thought imaginable. He comes up with clever lines about getting vaccinated like, “Don’t own the libs … own the lives.”

*Acosta’s point here obviously is that he thinks Fox News’ on-air hosts who’ve opposed vaccine mandates are also anti-vaxxers, and they’re testing their own “replacement theory” by killing off their viewers. However, check out this hypocrisy: a photo from the Fox News offices in Washington, D.C., where there’s an indoor mask mandate, shows Fox employees wearing masks. Also, some 90 percent of Fox News employees have been vaccinated. So why is Fox News peddling so much vaccine misinformation?*


----------



## Kyle

If Jim ever had a working brain cell, his wife must have received it in the divorce.


----------



## kom526

Think of the children


----------



## Kyle

Wouldn't she be immunocompromised with Influenza, Rhinoviruses, Staphs, Streps and other Coronaviruses as well?

Do they want everyone in masks in perpetuity?


----------



## Sneakers

Kyle said:


> Wouldn't she be immunocompromised with Influenza, Rhinoviruses, Staphs, Streps and other Coronaviruses as well?
> 
> Do they want everyone in masks in perpetuity?


Yup.


----------



## GURPS

Kyle said:


> Do they want everyone *on their knees* in perpetuity?




:fixed:


----------



## GURPS

*Mask Mandates Becoming Theater of the Absurd *

“Regarding masks, there are only two options: They work. So, if you’re wearing one, who cares if I do? Or, they don’t. So, why make me wear one?!” 

“The whole thing just drives me crazy,” Carter says.

“We’re living in a nightmare. It’s all about conditioning people to follow federal rules in the most intimate details of their lives, such as what we _wear_. I never thought I would see the United States mandate the wearing of an article of clothing, like the Arabs mandate the burka!”


----------



## GURPS

*Another Hysterical Study on Masking Kids in Schools Turns out to Be Absolutely Trash*

This per MLive.


> Schools without mask requirements have reported significantly more cases of COVID-19 among their students than those mandating masking, according to a recent analysis by the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.


“Significantly more,” they proclaim with absolute confidence with just the right amount of hysteria. Yet, when you get into the numbers, they show the complete opposite is true. So, what are they? Well, they say in the next paragraph.


> Districts that require masking for all grades have reported an average of less than 50 cases per 100,000 enrolled individuals in recent weeks, while districts with few to no mask rules have seen their average surpass 80 cases per capita.


*Yes, you read that right. The great scientific finding here that proves masks are a worthy sacrifice for children is a difference of around 30 cases…per 100,000 children. In percentages, that’s 0.0005 percent vs. 0.0008 percent. To say that doesn’t even qualify as a rounding error is an understatement.*

Schools are forcing muzzles on kids, creating learning difficulties, and possibly causing lasting mental and emotional problems in order to maybe avoid a difference of 0.0003 percent in infections. And remember, we are talking about a virus that is already less dangerous to children than the flu or riding in a car.

It’s hard for me to put into words how infuriating it is to see people spread this kind of garbage as an excuse to keep forcing masks on children in schools. And for what? To make adults suffering from hypochondria feel protected and virtuous when they are already vaccinated? The vaccines work, don’t they? The conflicting messages and willingness to use children as pawns are just gross. But you can expect these kinds of “studies” to continue. They’ve got a narrative to push, after all.


----------



## GURPS

You Cannot Have Your Coffee Until You Put On A Mask


----------



## Hijinx

There is nothing stopping this child from wearing a mask in school.
Why should the other kids have to wear one?


----------



## Kyle

GURPS said:


> You Cannot Have Your Coffee Until You Put On A Mask



And to the morons like Sappy, Tranny etal, it makes sense.


----------



## GURPS

*CDC Director Reaffirms Forcing Vaccinated Children to Remain Masked, Dodges Question on Vaccine Mandates*

"After we have authorization from FDA and recommendations from CDC, we will be working to scale up pediatric vaccination. That said, it will take some time. And as I just noted, as we head into these winter months, we know we cannot be complacent," the director said. "We are going to continue to recommend masks in all schools for all people in those schools, and we will look forward to scaling up pediatric vaccination during this period of time."

The following day, Katie also covered remarks from Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who said the data that children need to be masked is "very weak," saying that it is so weak "is a fact."

Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R-FL) executive order against schools issuing mask mandates is tied up in the courts, though a judge is set to decide soon. Schools are considering easing their mask mandates as cases drop, which they have been doing significantly in Florida. 

The governor had issued his executive order in late July after consulting with experts in the field.


----------



## GURPS

*‘Very bad theater’: President Biden’s mask ‘science’ called into question yet again*


----------



## TPD

Follow the money. This woman did and the results shouldn’t surprise us.


----------



## GURPS

I'm Sure ..... how many own stock in Drug Companies


----------



## GURPS

*Judge tosses Florida school districts' lawsuit over mask mandate ban*

In a 22-page decision Friday, an administrative law judge ruled that officials from six counties failed to prove that the ban was “an invalid exercise of delegated legislative authority.”

In a statement, the Florida Department of Health hailed the ruling as “yet another victory for parent’s rights.”

"At this point, the courts have been entirely clear: All school districts must come into compliance with the law and honor parental rights to make decisions for their children," the statement said.

The ruling is the latest in a months-long battle between school districts and the state which has resulted in some districts losing hundreds of thousands of dollars over their masking protocols.

School officials from Alachua, Broward Miami-Dade, Leon and Duval counties filed the lawsuit in October over the masking rules that took effect in September after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed an executive order allowing parents to choose whether their children should wear masks to school.


----------



## GURPS

*CDC is Indeed Back to Demanding Americans Wear Masks, and Americans Are Tired of It*






"The evidence is clear," Dr. Walensky insists. "Masks can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 by reducing your chance of infection by more than 80 percent." It doesn't just apply to the Wuhan coronavirus though, but the flu and even the common cold. "In combination with other steps, like getting your vaccination, hand-washing, and keeping physical distance, wearing your mask is an important step _you _can take to keep us all healthy." 








Many questioned where the 80 percent claim was coming from. One study that cites the 80 percent figure from was reported on right around the start of the pandemic, and before vaccines were available. Chris Westfall, in his article for Forbes from May 12, 2020 cites "research and scientific models from UC Berkley’s International Computer Science Institute and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology." 

And, when it comes to vaccines, while testifying before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, Walensky couldn't even tell Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who is also a medical doctor, how many CDC employees have been vaccinated. 



That is a Bald Faced Lie ......


----------



## GURPS

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was caught removing her mask at the 2021 SOMOS conference in Puerto Rico, a violation of the local mask mandate, because she believed attendees were having trouble hearing her.

Weingarten previously advocated for "universal masking" in schools, arguing back in August that such a policy would be the safest way to both protect children and keep schools open.

But on Friday, she was seen maskless at the annual event with other panelists in photos shared to social media by a concerned parent, who questioned whether proof of vaccination was required since it appeared that a masking requirement was not enforced.










						Randi Weingarten Caught Violating Local Mask Mandate Despite Pushing for the Masking of School Children
					






					townhall.com


----------



## TPD

At the grocery store yesterday, 50-75% of customers were masked.  All employees were masked.  Can't believe people are still going along with this big lie


----------



## Grumpy

TPD said:


> At the grocery store yesterday, 50-75% of customers were masked.  All employees were masked.  Can't believe people are still going along with this big lie


Amazing...and usually half of the masked folks, have it on their chin or mouth but not the nose...


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...

Every time I walk past a mask wearer at any store, I always think to myself, "cuck". Especially if it's a man. These days it's extremely easy to spot a pussy of a self neutered man, they are the one's wearing face diapers. I usually give them the stink eye as I walk past.


----------



## GURPS

LightRoasted said:


> Every time I walk past a mask wearer at any store, I always think to myself, "cuck".




New Pajama Boy


----------



## GURPS

*The Pivot to Forever Masking Is Starting. Let’s Kill It with Fire*


We are reaching the point that many of us predicted and feared. The public-health community and media elites are starting to pivot to forever masking.

With vaccines now available for everybody aged five and up who wants one, highly effective anti-viral drugs on the horizon, the southern surge over, and COVID-19 settling into an endemic pattern, the justifications for maintaining masking requirements keep evaporating. So naturally, the masking obsessives are preparing new reasons to keep up the policy.


----------



## TPD

Rules for thee but not for me!  
They don’t even try to hide it anymore.









						Biden spotted in Nantucket shopping indoors without a mask despite sign mandating them
					

President Joe Biden was spotted shopping inside a store over the weekend without wearing a mask which he has repeatedly urged Americans to wear.




					www.foxnews.com


----------



## rio

TPD said:


> Rules for thee but not for me!
> They don’t even try to hide it anymore.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Biden spotted in Nantucket shopping indoors without a mask despite sign mandating them
> 
> 
> President Joe Biden was spotted shopping inside a store over the weekend without wearing a mask which he has repeatedly urged Americans to wear.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.foxnews.com


He was wearing it, but when your head is always up your ass people just assume it's underwear.


----------



## Kyle

UK School Asks Pupils to Wear ‘Yellow Badge’ to Show They Are Mask-Exempt

A parenting campaign group has criticised the “deeply inappropriate” request from a school for pupils to wear a “yellow badge” to show they are exempt from wearing a mask, with many making a comparison to the yellow stars forced upon Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Allison Pearson from The Telegraph had circulated last week excerpts of an email from the headmaster of Farringtons School in Chiselhurst, Kent, advising parents that children who are exempt from wearing a mask in school should wear a “yellow badge” to identify themselves. The email prompted the journalist to ask “does the school have teachers who know their history?” as well as dozens of responses to the tweet with members of the public seeing the comparison to the forcing of Jewish people wearing stars in Nazi-occupied Europe so they could be identified and singled out for discrimination.










						School Asks Pupils to Wear ‘Yellow Badge’ to Prove Mask Exemption
					

A school in England has asked pupils to wear a "yellow badge" to show they are exempt from wearing a mask.




					www.breitbart.com


----------



## Tech

Kyle said:


> UK School Asks Pupils to Wear ‘Yellow Badge’ to Show They Are Mask-Exempt
> 
> A parenting campaign group has criticised the “deeply inappropriate” request from a school for pupils to wear a “yellow badge” to show they are exempt from wearing a mask, with many making a comparison to the yellow stars forced upon Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Europe.
> 
> Allison Pearson from The Telegraph had circulated last week excerpts of an email from the headmaster of Farringtons School in Chiselhurst, Kent, advising parents that children who are exempt from wearing a mask in school should wear a “yellow badge” to identify themselves. The email prompted the journalist to ask “does the school have teachers who know their history?” as well as dozens of responses to the tweet with members of the public seeing the comparison to the forcing of Jewish people wearing stars in Nazi-occupied Europe so they could be identified and singled out for discrimination.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> School Asks Pupils to Wear ‘Yellow Badge’ to Prove Mask Exemption
> 
> 
> A school in England has asked pupils to wear a "yellow badge" to show they are exempt from wearing a mask.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.breitbart.com


----------



## GURPS

Kyle said:


> UK School Asks Pupils to Wear ‘Yellow Badge’ to Show They Are Mask-Exempt




The level of clueless-ness is Epic


----------



## Kyle

GURPS said:


> The level of clueless-ness is Epic


And no longer surprising.


----------



## GURPS

*Businesses handed warning letters over mask mandate*


----------



## TPD

GURPS said:


> *Businesses handed warning letters over mask mandate*


Good luck to those businesses!


----------



## Kyle




----------



## herb749

Checking the TV stations last night at 8pm and there's NBC lighting the Rockefeller tree with hundreds or thousands waiting maskless. This won't be called a superspreader tree lighting event.


----------



## GURPS

*Researchers shoot holes in study touted for confirming 'masks work' in curbing COVID*



Accused of design flaws and overstating its findings when it was released in late August, the study's newly released data show only 20 more symptomatic COVID cases in the villages that didn't receive masks and related education, reminders and "role modeling by community leaders."

In a total study population of 342,126 adults, 1,106 people in the control group tested positive, compared to 1,086 in the treatment group. The latter group represented 52% of the study population.

"I have a hard time going from these numbers to the assured conclusions that 'masks work' that was promulgated by the media or the authors after this preprint [not yet peer reviewed] appeared," University of California Berkeley professor Ben Recht, who studies machine learning, wrote in an essay last week.

He said he was frustrated that the "raw number of seropositive cases" was left out of the preprint by researchers led by Yale University economists Jason Abaluck and Ahmed Mobarak, preventing him from "computing standard statistical analyses of their results."


----------



## Sneakers

herb749 said:


> Checking the TV stations last night at 8pm and there's NBC lighting the Rockefeller tree with hundreds or thousands waiting maskless. This won't be called a superspreader tree lighting event.


Keep that same eye out for the tree lighting in DC tonight.


----------



## kom526

herb749 said:


> Checking the TV stations last night at 8pm and there's NBC lighting the Rockefeller tree with hundreds or thousands waiting maskless. This won't be called a superspreader tree lighting event.


While watching the T-giving day parade I said to the LW that the performers on the street and the balloon wranglers were all masked but the "big time" lip syncers on the floats were not masked. I'm sure that there was a lot of scientific research behind that decision.


----------



## GURPS

Oregon May Actually Make Its Mask Mandate Permanent
					






					townhall.com


----------



## rio

Well, Oregon's never been on my bucket list anyway....


----------



## Sneakers

I'm seeing a change in door signs around here.  Not too long ago it was 'Masks Recommended".  Today, nearly all the big stores had a sign, "MASK REQUIRED!" and in little tiny letters at the bottom, "unless you have a medical exemption or are "fully vaccinated" ".  And the "fully vaccinated" was in quotes with no further explanation.


----------



## UglyBear

Was just in Old town/ downtown Annapolis yesterday, doing the tourist thing.  Less people are wearing masks than in SoMD, maybe 1-in-10? 
Sights on stores that masks are not required, and to respect other people’s space and decisions.  Weird.


----------



## Kyle

UglyBear said:


> Was just in Old town/ downtown Annapolis yesterday, doing the tourist thing.  Less people are wearing masks than in SoMD, maybe 1-in-10?
> Sights on stores that masks are not required, and to respect other people’s space and decisions.  Weird.


Guess they got tired of being broke.


----------



## kom526

UglyBear said:


> Was just in Old town/ downtown Annapolis yesterday, doing the tourist thing.  Less people are wearing masks than in SoMD, maybe 1-in-10?
> Sights on stores that masks are not required, and to respect other people’s space and decisions.  Weird.


I've definitely noticed more people wearing masks here locally. I was at my son's b-ball game yesterday and masks were required indoors for all, but was selectively enforced.  SMCPS is meeting this week I believe and a repeal of the masking requirement is on the agenda.


----------



## Kyle

I haven't worn one in any store, diner, post office etc. in a long, long time.

Really dont' think any of the businesses give a crap about it anymore. 

They just want to make money. Not become government Karens.


----------



## RoseRed

UglyBear said:


> Was just in Old town/ downtown Annapolis yesterday, doing the tourist thing.  Less people are wearing masks than in SoMD, maybe 1-in-10?
> Sights on stores that masks are not required, and to respect other people’s space and decisions.  Weird.


I was up there two weeks ago and noticed the same thing.

I was also at the Gaylord this weekend and though there were signs up for wearing masks, a lot of people were not.


----------



## Sneakers

And, on the opposite end, I still see people wearing masks while driving their cars.


----------



## Hijinx

Sneakers said:


> And, on the opposite end, I still see people wearing masks while driving their cars.



Did you look to see if they still had an Obama bumper sticker on those cars.?


----------



## Sneakers

Hijinx said:


> Did you look to see if they still had an Obama bumper sticker on those cars.?


  Didn't notice, but I did see a bumper sticker that said, "I Miss Obama".  My only thought was , "WHY?!!?"


----------



## Hijinx

Sneakers said:


> Didn't notice, but I did see a bumper sticker that said, "I Miss Obama".  My only thought was , "WHY?!!?"


Maybe the guy likes pain.


----------



## GURPS

*Do Masks Work?*


A 2016 study in Beijing by MacIntyre, et al. that claimed to find a possible benefit of masks did not prove very informative, as only one person in the control group—and one in the mask group—developed a laboratory-confirmed infection. Much more illuminating was a 2010 study in France by Canini, et al., which randomly placed sick people, or “index patients,” and their household contacts together into either a mask group or a no-mask control group. The authors “observed a good adherence to the intervention,” meaning that the index patients generally wore the furnished three-ply masks as intended. (No one else was asked to wear them.) Within a week, 15.8 percent of household contacts in the no-mask control group and 16.2 percent in the mask group developed an “influenza-like illness” (ILI). So, the two groups were essentially dead even, with the sliver of an advantage observed in the control group not being statistically significant. The authors write that the study “should be interpreted with caution since the lack of statistical power prevents us to draw formal conclusion regarding effectiveness of facemasks in the context of a seasonal epidemic.” However, they state unequivocally, “In various sensitivity analyses, we did not identify any trend in the results suggesting effectiveness of facemasks.”

With the two RCTs that directly tested source control providing essentially no support for the claim that wearing a mask benefits others, what about RCTs that test the combination of source control and wearer protection? By dividing participants into a hand-hygiene group, a hand-hygiene group that also wore masks, and a control group, three RCTs allow us to see whether the addition of masks (worn both by the sick person and others) provided any benefit over hand hygiene alone.

A 2010 study by Larson, et al. in New York found that those in the hand-hygiene group were less likely to develop any symptoms of an upper respiratory infection (42 percent experienced symptoms) than those in the mask-plus-hand-hygiene group (61 percent). This statistically significant finding suggests that wearing a mask actually undermines the benefits of hand hygiene.


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...



GURPS said:


> *Do Masks Work?*


The M17 gas mask, and/or family of such masks, sure do work. They'll stop the smell of a fart before it leaves the ass of Joe Biden, as well as any other biological agents such as nerve gases the like of Sarin, Cyclosarin, Anthrax, Cyclohexylsarin, Tabun, VX, etc., and yes, even any simple virus particle such as the flu, recently renamed COVID. I can only speak for these type of masks though.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*New York Won’t Force Counties to Comply With Mask Mandate*


New York Governor Kathy Hochul undermined her own statewide mask mandate on Monday by revealing that she would not force counties to comply with the mandate.

“We have left this to the counties to enforce. We hope that counties will enforce it,” Hochul told reporters. “We expect that they will, we hope that they will, it’s in the best interest of public health. But it also comes down to individual businesses doing the right thing as well. We’re asking businesses to protect their customers and to protect their employees.”

But several counties had already announced their intention to not enforce the mandate, including Rockland, Madison, Niagara, Livingston, Rensselaer, and Chautauqua counties.


----------



## GURPS

*Major Airline CEOs Push Back On Plane Mask Mandates: ‘Case Is Very Strong That Masks Don’t Add Much’*


The comments from American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly came on Wednesday during a Senate committee hearing on the financial support the industry received during the pandemic.


CNN reported:



> _Both Kelly and Parker, who each have announced plans to retire as CEOs in the coming months, mentioned that high-grade HEPA air filters on planes capture virtually all airborne contamination and air quality is helped by how frequently cabin air is exchanged with fresh air from outside the cabin._



“I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment,” Kelly said. “It is very safe and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting.”

Parker agreed, saying, “I concur, an aircraft is the safest place you can be.”

“It’s true of all of our aircraft — they all have the same HEPA filters and air flow,” Parker added.


----------



## TPD

The Democratic leaders of both Long Island counties have joined with dozens of Republican officials around the state to defy Gov. Kathy Hochul’s private-sector mask mandate — and boost the ranks of renegade county governments to nearly two-thirds the total.

https://nypost.com/2021/12/17/all-of-long-island-counties-refuse-gov-hochuls-mask-mandate/


----------



## Sneakers

Technically, Brooklyn and Queens boroughs are considered counties of Long Island as well, but haven't seen anything if they will follow the mandate or not.


----------



## GURPS

*Indiana parent has a message for Americans concerned about school mask mandates*

"If these kinds of things — if you think it can’t happen where you live, you’re wrong. Whitley County is an amazing place to raise a family," he said. "Great schools and the best teachers and faculty. Unfortunately what’s happened is the liberal Left has implemented themselves into our education."

Authority figures seeking to enforce mask mandates in schools have been "emboldened" by leaders like President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, he added.

"What I would like to say to them — we’re not your peasants," Stafford said. "You’re not our king. We’re done."


----------



## GURPS

Canadian Karen locks down his account after mask-shaming woman at the airport (in violation of Twitter's rules?)
					

Not only that; the guy behind him on the flight didn't have his nose covered properly.




					twitchy.com


----------



## GURPS

*Mask revolt spurs Gov. Hochul to have state enforce new business mandate*


The announcement reversed previous statements in which Hochul said local governments would be solely responsible for carrying out the controversial, statewide mask mandate she imposed on the private sector — including business offices — last week.

It also came after officials in nearly two-thirds of the counties outside New York City refused to enforce the mandate — which carries fines of up to $1,000 per violation — because they don’t have the resources to force companies to comply.

“We’ve always said we’re going to leave it up to the counties and we’re going to be making sure that it gets done from the counties but we also want to lend support to them as well,” Hochul told reporters during a news conference in upstate Johnson City, outside Binghamton.


----------



## GURPS

*N.Y. Gov. Hochul Now Bribing Counties to Enforce Her Mask Mandate*


On Monday, the governor announced that she is “making $65 million available to counties across New York State to help with the costs associated with administering vaccines and boosters and enforcing the mask-or-vaccine mandate for indoor public places that went into effect statewide last week.”

“Getting vaccinated and wearing a mask are the surest ways to fight COVID and stay safe, and this funding will help counties across the state enforce the reasonable, responsible and effective mask-or-vax mandate in place until mid-January,” Hochul said. “The state is taking extensive measures to fight this pandemic and giving New Yorkers the tools everyone needs to stay safe. Instead of spreading COVID, let’s spread holiday cheer and do it safely by getting vaccinated and wearing masks indoors in public spaces.”


----------



## GURPS




----------



## Hijinx

I just wonder how many people died because this little squirt Faucci refused to let people be treated with Ivermectin of HCQ.
Pretty sure it's a lot of people.


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...



Hijinx said:


> I just wonder how many people died because this little squirt Faucci refused to let people be treated with Ivermectin of HCQ. Pretty sure it's a lot of people.


I wonder how many people died because of the shity american diet they ate and lack of exercise, along with insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, being overweight, etc., (body inflammations), caused by their diet? I would wager a super majority.

Though I do agree, Faucci should see the dark hole of a solitary cell.


----------



## GURPS

*The Study That Convinced the CDC To Support Mask Mandates in Schools Is Junk Science*

The significance of that finding should have raised eyebrows, according to _The Atlantic_'s David Zweig. "A number of the experts interviewed for this article said the size of the effect should have caused everyone involved in preparing, publishing, and publicizing the paper to tap the brakes," he wrote in a new article that explores the study's significant flaws. "Instead, they hit the gas."

His article demonstrates quite convincingly that the study's results are suspect:



> But the Arizona study at the center of the CDC's back-to-school blitz turns out to have been profoundly misleading. "You can't learn anything about the effects of school mask mandates from this study," Jonathan Ketcham, a public-health economist at Arizona State University, told me. His view echoed the assessment of eight other experts who reviewed the research, and with whom I spoke for this article. Masks may well help prevent the spread of COVID, some of these experts told me, and there may well be contexts in which they should be required in schools. But the data being touted by the CDC—which showed a dramatic _more-than-tripling_ of risk for unmasked students—ought to be excluded from this debate. The Arizona study's lead authors stand by their work, and so does the CDC. But the critics were forthright in their harsh assessments. Noah Haber, an interdisciplinary scientist and a co-author of a systematic review of COVID-19 mitigation policies, called the research "so unreliable that it probably should not have been entered into the public discourse."



It turns out that there were numerous problems with the study. Many of the schools that comprise its data set weren't even open at the time the study was completed; it counted outbreaks instead of cases; it did not control for vaccination status; it included schools that didn't fit the criteria. For these and other reasons, Zweig argues that the study ought to be ignored entirely: Masking in schools may or may not be a good idea, but this study doesn't help answer the question. Any public official—including and especially Walensky—who purports to _follow the science _should toss this one in the trash.


----------



## GURPS

VIDEO: Ditch the Masks, Pussies... | Lotus Eaters
					

Thomas explains why it's finally time to go "mask off".            Listen to the Audio Version




					www.lotuseaters.com


----------



## TPD

WTH St Mary’s County?!?

https://www.thebaynet.com/articles/...ment-buildings-and-public-transportation.html


----------



## Hijinx

TPD said:


> WTH St Mary’s County?!?
> 
> https://www.thebaynet.com/articles/...ment-buildings-and-public-transportation.html



Monkey see----------------Monkey do.


----------



## stgislander

TPD said:


> WTH St Mary’s County?!?
> 
> https://www.thebaynet.com/articles/...ment-buildings-and-public-transportation.html


She's flexing that muscle I see.


----------



## kom526

The Biden end around using OSHA to mandate mask use at workplaces goes into effect on Monday the 10th. This is lifted from the email I received dark and early this morning.


> Monday, January 10, 2022
> 
> 
> *All face coverings need to be double layer and fit snugly over the nose, mouth, and chin with no large gaps on the outside of the face.* Face shields are not permitted*. Please see the link to the Q&A at the end of this communication for more information.


Very excited to enter this next phase of flattening the curve. JoeyB is gonna crush this virus any day now.


----------



## Hijinx

I saw something yesterday that stated the time limit on masks.
I believe the time limit for cloth masks was about half hour and then you should get a new one because in a half hour the Covid had penetrated the mask.


----------



## GURPS

kom526 said:


> The Biden end around using OSHA to mandate mask use at workplaces goes into effect on Monday the 10th.




Enjoy your mask induced Hypoxia


----------



## kom526

GURPS said:


> Enjoy your mask induced Hypoxia


I think the end game is to forcibly deprive our brains of just enough oxygen to reduce our mental capacities to that of SloJoe.


----------



## GURPS

*Mask Mandates Are USELESS ....*



Not to mention the county level comparisons, such as in Los Angeles and Orange County, where LA has done worse than Orange every single day since reinstating their mask mandate in mid-July:







A trend that was noticed _months ago_ by Eric Ting at _SFGate_:



> Orange County — a non-mask-mandate county — had a very similar outcome to neighboring Los Angeles County, the first California county to bring back indoor masking in response to delta. Not only were the hospitalization figures identical, but Orange County actually had a lower case rate. Orange County has a similar vaccination rate to Los Angeles County (Los Angeles County's rate for the total population is 61%, just two percentage points lower than Orange County's), which makes it much easier to compare the two counties to one another than it is to compare Solano County to the other Bay Area counties.





> San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties had near-identical hospitalization outcomes despite different mask policies.



Hilariously, Gavin Newsom also had previously declined to reinstate a mask mandate over the summer, despite the Delta variant, saying that vaccinations were more important:



> When Gov. Gavin Newsom was pressed over the summer on implementing a statewide indoor mask mandate in response delta, he demurred and said that vaccination is the more important intervention.





> "If we continue to get people vaccinated that'll be unnecessary and this is the call that anyone who hasn't been vaccinated get vaccinated," he said.


----------



## GURPS

New York Officials are Lying to Justify The Mask Mandate
					

As expected, the Governor lied to rationalize her own incompetence




					ianmsc.substack.com
				










Appealing to the CDC’s recommendations to justify the mask mandate is dangerously incompetent.

The CDC recommends masking if case rates exceed 50 new cases per 100,000 over seven days. What is that based on? Why 50? There’s no justification or explanation for why they chose that number. Why would anyone follow their recommendations when there’s no evidence given for why they exist in the first place?

Not to mention the incomprehensibly large amount of evidence that mask mandates do not matter, such as a comprehensive preprint study that found the below:



> *Results* Earlier mask mandates were not associated with lower total cases or lower maximum growth rates. Earlier mandates were weakly associated with lower minimum COVID-19 growth rates. Mask use predicted lower minimum but not lower maximum growth rates. Growth rates and total growth were comparable between US states in the first and last mask use quintiles during the Fall-Winter wave. These observations persisted for both natural logarithmic and fold growth models and when adjusting for differences in US state population density.
> *Conclusions* We did not observe association between mask mandates or use and reduced COVID-19 spread in US states. COVID-19 mitigation requires further research and use of existing efficacious strategies, most notably vaccination.



Yet this is what the CDC says about masking (emphasis added):



> *Wearing a mask is one of the most important ways to reduce the risk of getting and spreading COVID-19.* This document describes the types of masks available and strategies that can be used to better protect the wearer and the people they interact with. Wearing any type of mask correctly is better than not wearing a mask at all.
> This guidance should be used to help inform people’s choice of mask and level of protection. CDC recommends that people consistently and correctly wear masks in all public settings



Unbelievable.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*Dane County Tells Fed-Up Residents ‘Because I Said So’ Is A Good Enough Reason For Never-Ending Mask Mandates*


MADISON, Wis. — Dozens of Dane County residents queued up to make their voices heard before the county Board of Supervisors on Thursday night regarding a resolution to halt the health director’s endless mask mandate “until public input and the consent of the governed has been achieved.”

After lengthy public comment and debate among the supervisors, the board rejected the resolution on a 29-4 vote, with Supervisors Jeff Weigand, Tim Rockwell, Dave Ripp, and Tim Kiefer supporting the resolution. Supervisor Michele Doolan absurdly called the _resolution to halt_ the unscientific mandate “government overreach,” and Health Director Janel Heinrich, who was on the call, refused to grant any more transparency.


The mask order was handed down by this unelected director of public health in Madison and Dane County in August, renewed in September, October, twice in November through December, and was extended again before the New Year into February.





Well then you need to vote these mask mandaters out of office


----------



## GURPS

*Non-pharmaceutical public health measures for mitigating the risk and impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza *




4.3. Face masks 

Summary of evidence 

Ten relevant RCTs were identified for this review and meta-analysis to quantify the efficacy of community-based use of face masks, including more than 6000 participants in total (42-47, 50, 68- 70). Most trials combined face masks with improved hand hygiene, and examined the use of face masks in infected individuals (source control) and in susceptible individuals. In the pooled analysis, although the point estimates suggested a relative risk reduction in laboratory-confirmed influenza of 22% (RR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.51–1.20, I2=30%, P=0.25) in the face mask group, and a reduction of 8% in the face mask group regardless of whether or not hand hygiene was also enhanced (RR: 0.92, 95% CI=0.75–1.12, I2=30%, P=0.40), *the evidence was insufficient to exclude chance as an explanation for the reduced risk of transmission. *Some studies reported that low compliance in face mask use could reduce their effectiveness. A study suggested that surgical and N95 (respirator) masks were effective in preventing the spread of influenza (71).

OVERALL RESULT OF EVIDENCE ON FACE MASKS 

*1. Ten RCTs were included in the meta-analysis, and there was no evidence that face masks are effective in reducing transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza. *


Summary of considerations of members of the guideline development group for determining the direction and strength of the recommendations 

The guideline development group, with the support of the steering group, formulated recommendations that were informed by the evidence presented and took into account quality of evidence, values and preferences, balance of benefits and harms, resource implications, ethical considerations, acceptability and feasibility, as outlined below. 

*Quality of evidence *

There is a moderate overall quality of evidence that face masks do not have a substantial effect on transmission of influenza. 

*Values and preferences *

Face mask use is common to prevent transmission of infections in health care settings around the world, and a widely used measure in some communities, particularly in South-East Asia. 

*Balance of benefits and harms *

There are no major adverse effects of face mask use. There might be issues with allergies in some individuals, and prolonged use of face masks can be uncomfortable or inconvenient. 

*Resource implications *

Reusable cloth face masks are not recommended. Medical face masks are generally not reusable, and an adequate supply would be essential if the use of face masks was recommended. If worn by a symptomatic case, that person might require multiple masks per day for multiple days of illness.

*Ethical considerations *

There are no major ethical considerations in the use of face masks. Masks may be more culturally acceptable in some locations, and other health behaviours may affect compliance (72). 

*Acceptability *

Face masks are widely used in health care settings to prevent transmission of infections, and are used in the community in some parts of the world (65). They are likely to be acceptable if recommended, particularly in more severe epidemics and pandemics. However, face masks are not appropriate under some circumstances (e.g. during sleep). The guideline development group also considered that compliance may not be high in some areas and populations. 

*Feasibility *

Twenty-eight Member States have included the use of face masks in their national influenza preparedness plan (65). Feasibility can be enhanced by education campaigns to improve usage and compliance. The guideline development group believed that this intervention is feasible, especially for symptomatic individuals.



*RECOMMENDATION: *

Face masks worn by asymptomatic people are conditionally recommended in severe epidemics or pandemics, to reduce transmission in the community. Disposable, surgical masks are recommended to be worn at all times by symptomatic individuals when in contact with other individuals. *Although there is no evidence that this is effective in reducing transmission, there is mechanistic plausibility for the potential effectiveness of this measure. 

Population: *

Population with symptomatic individuals; and general public for protection 

*When to apply: *

At all times for symptomatic individuals (disposable surgical mask), and in severe epidemics or pandemics for public protection (face masks)




 

We cannot prove masks are effective vs the Flu, but wear then any3way ..... you will feel better


----------



## GURPS

*If Masks Work, Why Didn't We Plan to Use Them?*



So let’s begin with this quote:

_“It draws from the findings of nearly 200 journal articles written between 1990 and 2016.”_

Got that? Their Community Mitigation Guidelines to Prevent Pandemic Influenza, was based on nearly 200 journal articles. Theoretically, this should be the gold standard, right? They reviewed 200 scientific articles on how to respond to a pandemic respiratory virus and then created their guidelines. Let’s move on:

“Personal NPIs which include personal protective measures you can take every day and personal protective measures reserved for pandemics.”

So these are things individuals can do to protect themselves and their loved ones during a pandemic respiratory virus. Sounds like this would be where they go all in on masks, right? Not exactly:

*“Personal protective measures reserved for pandemics include voluntary home quarantine of household members who have been exposed to someone they live with who is sick.”*

Ah! Well…uh…that is…that’s not masks. That’s not forced quarantining of healthy people. That’s not “masks are better protection than a vaccine.” That says _voluntary_ home quarantine for people who have sick family members. That’s it. That’s what the gold standard, the best prepared pandemic influenza planning document _in the world,_ based on 200 journal articles over 26 years, said to do to protect yourself and loved ones. No masks. Just stay home, if you feel like it, if someone in your household is sick and you’ve been exposed.


----------



## Kyle

https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-p...overnment-provided-mask-passes-the-sniff-test


----------



## Kyle




----------



## GURPS

*Big Surprise! Wisconsin Records Request Reveals No Data On Dane County Mask Mandate Efficacy*


“Public Health needs to show data that the mask mandates are preventing Covid19, How Many cases were Prevented from Transmission and data showing how many cases would exist if there was no mask mandate,” the resident wrote, according to documentation in Jicha’s response letter. “This data should be readily available and quick to give out if Public Health is issuing their mandates on science and data.”

This is what Dane County residents have been saying for two years, but especially since August, when unelected health director Janel Heinrich reimposed the “temporary” mask mandate that she’s extended every month since. It was recently extended yet again to February.

Dane County was one of the most vaccinated counties in the entire country at the time the mandate was enacted, and according to the health department’s own numbers (which they since appear to have hidden from their website), herd immunity here was considered to be as high as 90 percent in October. When Heinrich first issued the mandate in August, weekly average deaths had been steady at zero since the middle of May.


----------



## GURPS

*Illinois high school student mocks the state’s mask mandate*


Watch this Illinois high school student use the power of satire to fight back against the state’s mask mandate. Her first line is, “Thank you for teaching students that our own mental health is much less important than making triple-vaccinated adults feel safe” and it just gets better from there:


----------



## GURPS

*Unmasked: The Global Failure of COVID Mask Mandates*




_“This document is called Community Mitigation Guidelines to Prevent Pandemic Influenza United States 2017. It draws from the findings of nearly 200 journal articles written between 1990 and 2016. This document looked at what can be done at the individual and community level during a pandemic when we don’t have a vaccine or proven medical treatment for the disease. We’re looking at data since 2016 and adjusting our recommendations to the specific circumstances of COVID-19.”1_ 



It’s essential to pause here to point out that this document covered two hundred journal articles and summarized the most recent scientific knowledge on personal preventative measures during pandemics. Surely during all of this research and planning, the world’s leading public health agency must have come across some knowledge that would lead them to believe masking had some potential benefit, right?

*Well, Haynes did describe what kinds of personal measures the CDC had researched, but there was one crucial omission: “Personal protective measures reserved for pandemics include voluntary home quarantine of household members who have been exposed to someone they live with who is sick.”*

All they recommended for personal protective measures was “voluntary home quarantine” for those who have a sick family member. Not only was there no mention of masking being the most impactful nonpharmaceutical intervention, masks were not mentioned at all. Masks were not even considered a marginally beneficial mitigation and there was no claim that masks had the slightest potential to protect individuals or potentially impact widespread transmission. They simply were not mentioned at all.

*Now, some might think that these guidelines were focused on influenza, when COVID proved to be a more severe illness. The CDC covered that too: “CDC and other federal agencies have been practicing for this since the 2019 influenza pandemic. In the last two years, CDC has engaged in two pandemic influenza exercises that have required us to prepare for a severe pandemic and just this past year we had a whole of government exercise practicing similarly around a pandemic of influenza.”

They did not just create this planning document for a normal flu season; they created it exactly for the kind of severe pandemic that the country faced in early 2020. Not only was their preparation theoretical and created through lengthy scientific research, as mentioned, they had practiced for a severe pandemic the previous year. They had done what amounts to pandemic war games, meant to determine the practical application of this pandemic planning document. They had the opportunity to put their recommendations and guidelines to the test in a simulation of an outbreak such as COVID, and still masking was not recommended as a personal protective measure.*



There is a lot more meat and detail at the link


----------



## GURPS

*New York Supreme Court Judge Strikes Down Democrat Governor’s Mask Mandate*




“There can be no question that every person in this State wishes, wants and prays that this era of COVID ends soon and they will surely do their part to see that is accomplished,” Judge Thomas Rademaker said in the ruling. “However, enacting any laws to this end is entrusted solely to the State Legislature. While the intentions of Commissioner Bassett and Governor Hochul appear to be well aimed squarely at doing what they believe is right to protect the citizens of New York State, they must take their case to the State Legislature.”

Hochul’s mask mandate was “violative of the State Administrative Procedure Act as promulgated and enacted and therefore null, void, and unenforceable as a matter of law,” the judge wrote, adding that it was also “violative of the Public Health Law as promulgated and enacted and therefore null, void, and unenforceable as a matter of law.”

Hochul responded by saying  in a statement that her “responsibility as Governor is to protect New Yorkers throughout this public health crisis” and claiming that her mask mandate would “help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.”


----------



## Hijinx

GURPS said:


> Hochul responded by saying  in a statement that her “responsibility as Governor is to protect New Yorkers throughout this public health crisis” and claiming that her mask mandate would “help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.”



Which it has a proven record of not doing.


----------



## GURPS

*Opponents to OHA: Masking is about control, not health*


“This has never been about health. It’s all about control,” one opponent testified on Monday. “Forcing young children to mask day in and day out is an abusive form of conditioning. You’re teaching them submission and nothing else. Only a truly evil person would vote to mask children indefinitely.”
Health leaders maintain masking helps prevent transmission of COVID, especially the highly contagious omicron variant. Oregon is in the middle of a surge, although officials said cases have plateaued in the state.
Dr. Mary Tanski of OHSU maintains masking helps prevent COVID transmission.
“This is not the time to be lax and avoid some of the things we know that prevents the spread,” Tanski said.


----------



## Sneakers

Just heard that the N-95 masks that are being given out are coming from the nations national strategic reserve.   

Why didn't they release them months ago??


----------



## GURPS

*Fairfax Schools Suspend Maskless Kids Despite Youngkin’s Ban On Forced Masking*







“If you’re just a mom who wants to express her opinion, it’s incredibly intimidating to have them calling the police. It was just totally weird and unnecessary,” Lukas said. “And I think, at least for me, it confirmed that Fairfax County [schools] … are basically making it seem as though parents, as if we were a threat.”

Lukas said that while the school administrators were polite with her and let her children leave with just an excused absence on their records, the security guard hired by FCPS was “aggressively barking” at both local parents who tried to drop their students off at the elementary school without masks and Daily Wire journalist Luke Rosiak. The guard even called the police on local journalists such as Rosiak for allegedly refusing to stand in a “media staging” area away from the school.

Lukas said that for her kids to continue learning according to their academic schedule, they will have to comply with the district’s mask demands until they hear from the governor’s office on how Youngkin plans to enforce the mask mandate ban.


----------



## GURPS

*‘Why Are You Segregating Us?’*


A female student confined to the auditorium asked Ross, “So, if this doesn’t get decided if we’re not going to wear masks, how do you expect us to learn?”

“So that’s where I was saying choices have consequences, so I hope you’re in Schoology and learning,” Ross answered, referencing Loudoun Valley’s online learning platform.

The students pushed back, asserting that whether to wear a mask or not is their choice, and that their parents have the right to do what is best for their health. Harcrow cited Youngkin’s executive order.

Ross replied, “You are choosing to not follow the rules, then there are consequences for that.”


----------



## Hijinx

GURPS said:


> *‘Why Are You Segregating Us?’*
> 
> 
> A female student confined to the auditorium asked Ross, “So, if this doesn’t get decided if we’re not going to wear masks, how do you expect us to learn?”
> 
> “So that’s where I was saying choices have consequences, so I hope you’re in Schoology and learning,” Ross answered, referencing Loudoun Valley’s online learning platform.
> 
> The students pushed back, asserting that whether to wear a mask or not is their choice, and that their parents have the right to do what is best for their health. Harcrow cited Youngkin’s executive order.
> 
> Ross replied, “You are choosing to not follow the rules, then there are consequences for that.”



So who is choosing to not follow the rules?

A. The kids who are not wearing the masks?
or
B. The school that refuses to follow the Executive Order of the Governor of their state?

IMO The Fairfax Police are run by the County, but the Governor is in control of the State Police.
Send in the State Police and and put the School Supervisors under their control.


----------



## GURPS

*5 Florida Teachers Removed for Refusing to Wear Masks*

Five teachers were sent home from a Jupiter, Florida, elementary school for refusing to wear masks, The Palm Beach Post reported.

Limestone Creek Elementary School told the teachers to leave Jan. 20 for violating the Palm Beach County School District’s policy requiring teachers, but not students, to wear COVID-19 masks, according to a district spokeswoman, The Palm Beach Post reported.


----------



## GURPS

*This Must-Read Book Obliterates The Mask Cult*


“I’ve looked at data from all over the world, from the granular county level to entire countries, and have yet to find examples showing clear and sustained benefits to mask mandates,” Miller writes. “There has simply been no discernable pattern or correlation with mask mandates and better outcomes.”

From analyzing pre-Covid mask studies showing unequivocally that mask usage does not stop contagious respiratory viruses from spreading, to ripping apart “the experts’ new science” (including mask-use ‘studies’ from Arizona and Kansas with “significant flaws”), to highlighting real world data from places like Florida, California, Sweden, and countless others - with the charts to back it up - Miller devastatingly indicts, tries, and convicts the mask cult of misleading a gullible, frightened public into not just using a useless non-pharmaceutical intervention, but forcing it on others, including defenseless children, for years.

Think about it. If face masks ‘worked’ to stop or even slightly curb the spread of Covid-19, they should be able to point to place after place showing when the intervention was employed and how case numbers were affected. In other words, they should be able to do what Ian Miller has done in reverse. They can’t, obviously, because masks, and especially mask mandates, don’t work. At all. Not even a little bit.



Amazon product


----------



## GURPS

Wake County assistant superintendent Paul Koh talking about masking 2 year-old children at the Feb. 1, 2022 school board meeting, is blowing up on social media and prompted a response from state officials.

“We have no interest in requiring face coverings indefinitely,” the district said in a statement Thursday. “Such a suggestion is wrong. Our priority is to maintain in-person instruction. And at this time, state health officials have made clear that safely achieving that goal includes the use of face coverings.”










						Masking 2 year-olds in North Carolina… Superintendent in hot water…
					

Wake County assistant superintendent Paul Koh talking about masking 2 year-old children at the Feb. 1, 2022 school board meeting, is blowing up on social media and prompted a response from s…




					citizenfreepress.com


----------



## GURPS

“There were not child coffins lined up as some educators in this county suggested would be the case. In fact, things have been going pretty much as normal. Kids are getting sick despite wearing masks. We are forcing healthy children home for ‘exposure’ despite them wearing masks. And we are segregating children by vaccination status and religious exemption status despite the wearing of masks. So I ask you, if masks work, why don’t they?”

The other parents applauded and Jensen continued, “I’d now like to cover the facts. Not policy as determined by the White House. Not CDC recommendations, which I remind you is still policy — policy, I might add, that changes by the day without any basis in science at all.”

*“So here are the facts [that] are available to any one of you,” she added, saying that since the beginning of the pandemic, over 49,000 children had died of all causes — 331 of those deaths were listed as “COVID-related.”*











						WATCH: Virginia Mom Unloads On School Board Over Mask Mandates: ‘If Masks Work, Why Don’t They?’ | The Daily Wire
					






					www.dailywire.com


----------



## GURPS

Hundreds Of Students at CA High School Arrive Maskless to Protest Gov. Newsom Hyopcrisy​
Teachers barricaded the students in the lunchroom and turned down the thermostat.  


It turns out, they were not such much “banned from class” as barricaded inside lunchrooms.



> Maskless students in California said they were ‘barricaded’ inside their school’s gym with lunch tables propped against the door and temperatures turned down as they protested Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mask mandate.
> A photo from one of the students at the Oakdale Joint Unified School District captioned, ‘Locking us in,’ shows the tables blocking the doors from the inside on Thursday. School staffers could be seen standing by on the outside.
> The students claimed staff members turned down the thermostat to ‘freeze them out,’ according to Reopen California Schools and that it was only turned up when police arrived and they were allowed out.
> However, Oakland Police said the temperatures were not low. A school officer had responded to the situation, and deemed it not a police matter.
> A follow-up video on Reopen California School shows the maskless students marching in the streets on their way to the district headquarters in an apparent planned ‘protest’ as people in the streets cheered, ‘Let’s go, Oakdale.’




Being barricaded in a room is a significant life safety issue. In fact, the breech in fire safety protocol is enough that if I had an child at the Oakdale school, I would be contacting attorneys and arranging for a campaign for the school board.


----------



## Sneakers

These schools are getting more and more brazen, and further out of line everyday.  Yes, a CLEAR violation of fire and safety laws, as well as false imprisonment.


----------



## Tech

GURPS said:


> Hundreds Of Students at CA High School Arrive Maskless to Protest Gov. Newsom Hyopcrisy​
> Teachers barricaded the students in the lunchroom and turned down the thermostat.
> 
> 
> It turns out, they were not such much “banned from class” as barricaded inside lunchrooms.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Being barricaded in a room is a significant life safety issue. In fact, the breech in fire safety protocol is enough that if I had an child at the Oakdale school, I would be contacting attorneys and arranging for a campaign for the school board.


That's a barricade?


----------



## GURPS

Yep ... get used to being locked up for political reasons


----------



## Sneakers

Tech said:


> That's a barricade?


A pink eraser in their way is a barricade to many snowflakes.


----------



## UglyBear

F’ing Nazis.  Throwing their weight against freakin’ kids.  Heroes, one and all.


----------



## UglyBear

I want to move.
I will pump the car full of gas, and drive somewhere far far west of Mississippi River. Every place I stop, I’ll wave around a K95 mask.  

The first place where people ask “What the heck is that?”, is the place I’ll settle down.


----------



## black dog

UglyBear said:


> I want to move.
> I will pump the car full of gas, and drive somewhere far far west of Mississippi River. Every place I stop, I’ll wave around a K95 mask.
> 
> The first place where people ask “What the heck is that?”, is the place I’ll settle down.



 I dont believe you need to go that far west...


----------



## Hijinx

These school people are taking on an authority they are not authorized to take.
When they rule themselves a higher authority than the Governor of the State they are acting illegally.
Start firing their asses.


----------



## GURPS

Mask studies reach a new scientific low point​
MMWR appears to no longer be in the science business


Enter a new study in MMWR— the CDC’s pet journal; It is getting widely tweeted and cited, and that is unfortunate. The paper is entirely, irredeemably flawed. Its flaws are so evident that it should not have been published nor promoted. When an issue is deeply polarizing, publishing bad science helps no one. It cannot convince skeptics, proponents don’t need convincing, and it deepens mistrust in institutions. Let’s consider the paper.

The paper is a case control, test negative study. Basically, anyone in California btw Feb and Dec 2021 who got a COVID19 test could be enrolled. People were told if they tested + or -. Two days later, someone tried to call COVID-positive people. 13.4% of people who tested positive answered the phone. For each positive person, a negative person matched by age and sex who was called was identified. Only 8.9% of people who tested negative answered the phone.

We could stop right now. Very few people answered the phone. Moreover, there may be a big difference in who answered the phone. A person sick enough to be tested for COVID, who was +, might not be doing so well 2 days later. Which ones answered? How about those who tested negative? Are thee comparable people? Sadly, researchers continued….

Among people who answered the phone, people who said they had not spent time in indoor public settings were discarded. People who had a known COVID19 contact were discarded. The analysis just compares those who tested + vs - if they said they spent time in indoor public settings.

It turns out that people who tested positive were different than those who tested negative.

77% of people who tested positive got tested because of symptoms

17% who tested negative got tested because of symptoms

More people who tested negative, got tested “just cuz”







[clip]


What is wrong with this paper?

1. The people who test + and those who test - were seeking testing for totally different reasons. You are comparing sick people to people who wanted to get tested ‘just cuz’ or whose employer was swindled by these testing companies. Some people (more who test -) were getting tested before a medical procedure— these people may be extremely fastidious pre-procedure. I know I absolutely would not want to get sick before an elective surgery, and may even further alter my behavior. (though I am pretty chill)​​In case you don’t see how this is a bias, the explanation is that the people getting tested who test neg. are far more affluent/ neurotic/ or precautious and will do anything they are told more than the avg. Joe. They definitely wear masks more. Even if masks did nothing, there would be an association. If you went on twitter for months and told them carrying a Fauci statue in their pocket would protect them from COVID, you could prove Fauci statues work with this design. Put more technically, the root virtue of test negative strategy (comparability) is violated and unmeasured confounding is injected. Paper cannot be salvaged.​​2. The response rate is poor. I thought that awful day care study had a low response rate, but this one is lower. When you get a response rate this low you wonder if you are inserting biases you cannot even imagine. Who are the sick COVID people who answer the phone. Are they the least sick ones? The sick ones don’t take calls. Who are the people who answer the phone who test negative? The most anxious ones? The most gullible? ( I never answer unknown callers). Perhaps the ones most likely to carry Fauci statues in their pocket? (aka cloth masks​​*3. It’s self reported. Mask usage is self reported. A person who was just told they have covid19 might be more likely to assume or believe they must have slipped in terms of mask usage. Self reporting after results are known is a huge bias. A true believer will convince themselves they didn’t wear masks as well as they ought to.*​​*4. The effect size is implausibly large. In the randomized trial in Bangladesh, the arm that reached significance had a 11% relative risk reduction. In this study the same mask had 66% lower odds. That is implausibly large, and should raise red flags.*​​5. This is protection to the individual. If masks worked this well, they work this well for the wearer. So you don’t need me to mask. Your surgical mask is so massively protective you that mandating I wear a mask is not needed. This runs counter to the rhetoric in this space.​


----------



## GURPS

Virginia Dem Says Masks Are Just Political Symbols, ‘Forced Masking’ Violates 1st Amendment​


“It has become hard, if not impossible, to find a respected medical researcher who still defends Forced Masking of Children as a public safety measure,” Sen. Chap Petersen wrote Monday. Petersen, a moderate Democrat from Fairfax City, serves in a state senate where Democrats have such a thin majority that, when he votes with Republicans, Republicans can pass legislation.

“The decision to wear a mask in public – when there is so little correlation with public health – makes it de facto a political decision. In other words, by wearing a mask in a public setting, the wearer is able to communicate a political message, e.g. “I Care About Others” or “I voted for Biden” … You are forcing children to make a political statement that they (and their parents) may not believe. That violates the First Amendment,” he wrote.

It was a remarkable example of an elected Democrat politician calling out a nominally nonpartisan schools chief for being more partisan than he is — so partisan, in fact, that the superintendent was willing to implement what Petersen described as “inhumane” policies in service of political virtue signaling.


----------



## GURPS

Tapper Confronts NJ Governor Over School Mask Mandate: Where's the Evidence It Was Necessary?​

"Most states don't have mask mandates for schools," Tapper noted. "Have you seen evidence that these mask mandates have been necessary? That the spread and mortality rates in states where they didn't have mask mandates were far worse than in places where they did, like New Jersey?"

Murphy claimed that the mask mandate was a "very smart public health step" and cited the number of cases among students since the start of the school year.

"I think we've had just over 2,600 cases of students with Covid positive since the beginning of the school year that's out of 1.4 million kids," he said, "so it's a pretty stark piece of evidence that this has absolutely worked."


----------



## GURPS

WHY DO VACCINATED NEED TO BE MASKED




Students and staff will also still be required to masks in schools but data will be monitored and policies will be adjusted accordingly, a spokesperson from the governor's office said, according to NBC News.

Local governments will still be allowed to maintain indoor mask mandates.

"The current hospital census is still over capacity, but the dramatic surge in cases and hospitalizations due to the highly infectious Omicron variant over the last two months has declined significantly," the California Department of Public Health wrote Monday in its new guidance. 

"Californians are also increasingly knowledgeable about how to protect themselves and their loved ones with effective masks when there may be risk of COVID-19 exposure," the guidance continued. "Accordingly, it is now appropriate for the universal indoor masking requirement to expire on February 15, 2022 as scheduled."










						California Will Not Extend State Mask Mandate
					

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Monday that the statewide indoor mask mandate will not be extended for the vaccinated beyond Feb. 15.Unvaccinated individuals, however, will still be required to




					townhall.com


----------



## stgislander

Our church will be wearing masks indoors as long as the CDC's Community Transmission rating for SMC is Substantial or High.

If you look at the National map, practically the entire country is still rated High.  A few counties have dropped to Moderate or Low.


----------



## GURPS

Were masks a waste of time?​
This policy divergence created an opportunity to examine the impact of mask mandates. Those areas that rescinded their mandates could function as control groups for evaluating the effect of the policy on cases and mortality. But neither public health experts nor any of the major media outlets took up this opportunity. The reason, most of them would likely have said if pressed on the subject, was there was nothing to learn: “the science” was settled.

For their part, critics of masking and other Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) typically relied on principled assertions of freedom. This gave them little reason to examine the evidentiary basis of these policies, since they would have rejected them on moral grounds even if they worked. Only a few sceptical observers drilled into the data that could be found on sites such as the _New York Times_ — even if the paper’s own reporters made little of it. The most prolific of these was Ian Miller, who over the past two years has published copious data-driven commentary on the track record of various Covid public health interventions.

Miller arrives time and again at the same conclusion: that the ad hoc pandemic mitigation policies rolled out since 2020 have systematically failed to achieve goals. Miller has now compiled one subset of his graphs and commentaries into a book titled _Unmasked: The Global Failure of Covid Mask Mandates _which focuses solely on the most ubiquitous pandemic containment strategy deployed by governments worldwide: masks.

The endorsement of masking by medical bodies and public health authorities worldwide, Miller shows, entailed the abandonment of a longstanding view that masks were a useless and even harmful intervention. Over the previous decades, numerous randomised controlled trials had assessed the efficacy of masks in controlling the spread of respiratory viruses like influenza, and pandemic simulations had evaluated their potential.


----------



## GURPS

God Bless The Hero Schoolkids Who Refuse To Let Mask Police Abuse Them​

Take a look at this girl, who was allegedly forced “to sit in a cold vestibule for hours without access to food or water” for not masking.







The real heroes are the little girls who are forced to sit cold and alone and yet don’t give in to the teachers and staff who banished them there. Or these high schoolers in Chicago, who “were reportedly told to mask up or get out” — and did.





Or these students, who used their lunch break to push back against their school board’s senseless mandates.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## stgislander

Larry is jumping on the bandwagon.








						Maryland governor calls to end school mask requirement
					

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan called on the State Board of Education on Thursday to stop requiring face coverings in schools. Hogan cited the state's improving health metrics, a well as the widespread availability of vaccines for school-age children.




					apnews.com


----------



## rio

stgislander said:


> Larry is jumping on the bandwagon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maryland governor calls to end school mask requirement
> 
> 
> ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan called on the State Board of Education on Thursday to stop requiring face coverings in schools. Hogan cited the state's improving health metrics, a well as the widespread availability of vaccines for school-age children.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> apnews.com


God, I hope so!


----------



## stgislander

rio said:


> God, I hope so!


We realize he has no real power though.


----------



## GURPS

Mask Mandates Didn’t Make Much of a Difference Anyway​


But there’s no avoiding it: The benefits of universal masking have been difficult to quantify. One controlled study in Bangladesh showed a small but statistically significant benefit — among people who consistently used masks, 7.6% got symptomatic infections compared to 8.6% in the control group. Other studies have been inconclusive.

It is intuitive that a barrier ought to prevent germs from being emitted into the air. But if that’s true, why isn’t there more evidence for the benefits of masking two years into the pandemic? Experts associated with The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota have laid out a more complex analysis: Given the current understanding that the virus is transmitted in fine aerosol particles, it’s likely an infectious dose could easily get through and around loose-fitting cloth or surgical masks.

Many experts say only N95 respirators or similar devices are truly effective at stopping this virus — and some, such as the CIDRAP head Michael Osterholm, have been going public urging people to put less faith in cloth masks and adopt respirators such as N95s. He does not advocate universal N95 use in schools, however, where children are unlikely to be able to wear them consistently or correctly.


----------



## Hijinx

stgislander said:


> Larry is jumping on the bandwagon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maryland governor calls to end school mask requirement
> 
> 
> ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan called on the State Board of Education on Thursday to stop requiring face coverings in schools. Hogan cited the state's improving health metrics, a well as the widespread availability of vaccines for school-age children.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> apnews.com


IMO he isn't jumping on the band wagon because he wants to.
He is seeing the handwriting on the wall that this idiot Trudeau cannot see.

The public has stopped mumbling and started screaming--------------and in large numbers.
We have had enough of the BS.


----------



## GURPS

Mask Mandates Didn’t Make Much of a Difference Anyway​

Mask mandates are predicated on the effectiveness of “universal masking” in which everyone wears a mask to keep case numbers lower. One of the leaders in proposing universal masking, Monica Gandhi of UCSF, has unfairly been accused of being an anti-masker for talking about the limitations of her own strategy and the much greater importance of vaccination campaigns.

*But there’s no avoiding it: The benefits of universal masking have been difficult to quantify. One controlled study in Bangladesh showed a small but statistically significant benefit — among people who consistently used masks, 7.6% got symptomatic infections compared to 8.6% in the control group. Other studies have been inconclusive.*

It is intuitive that a barrier ought to prevent germs from being emitted into the air. But if that’s true, why isn’t there more evidence for the benefits of masking two years into the pandemic? *Experts associated with The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota have laid out a more complex analysis: Given the current understanding that the virus is transmitted in fine aerosol particles, it’s likely an infectious dose could easily get through and around loose-fitting cloth or surgical masks.*

Many experts say only N95 respirators or similar devices are truly effective at stopping this virus — and some, such as the CIDRAP head Michael Osterholm, have been going public urging people to put less faith in cloth masks and adopt respirators such as N95s. He does not advocate universal N95 use in schools, however, where children are unlikely to be able to wear them consistently or correctly.

[clip]

All those factors may explain why the states with mask mandates haven’t fared significantly better than the 35 states that didn’t impose them during the omicron wave. Rhode Island, where I live, has had a mask mandate since mid-December; nonetheless, we saw our January surge rise far higher than any other state. There’s little evidence that mask mandates are the primary reason the pandemic waves eventually fall — though much of the outrage over lifting mandates is based on that assumption. Many experts acknowledge that the rise and fall of waves is a bit of a mystery, as epidemiologist Sam Scarpino explained to me on my podcast.


Then there is NO REASON to have Mask Mandates


----------



## GURPS

Major U.S. Banks Drop Mask Mandates, New York Stock Exchanges Follows Suit​

“The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc, is now making masks optional on the trading floor and other public areas for fully vaccinated personnel and visitors, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, adding that the existing COVID-19 polices would still remain in place,” Reuters reported. “The exchange joins investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Morgan Stanley, which also said on Friday that they were dropping the requirement for staff to wear masks in the office.”

The move comes as some Democrat governors have finally joined many Republican governors in ending mask mandates, which comes ahead of the 2022 midterms where Democrats are widely expected to suffer severe losses across the board.

Walmart announced in a memo late this week that it was dropping its mask mandate for employees at work.

“Effective immediately, fully vaccinated associates will not be required to wear masks while working in any Walmart or Sam’s Club facility, unless required by a state or local mandate or ordinance,” the memo said.


----------



## Sneakers

Walmart dropping masking for vaccinated employees except in certain area, like the pharmacy, and not dropping in states like NY, California and Virginia.

On one hand, it's good, a big step towards normalcy, but on the other hand, the non-vaccinated will still be wearing masks, and easily identifiable and ostracized by both staff and patrons.


----------



## Grumpy

Sneakers said:


> On one hand, it's good, a big step towards normalcy, but on the other hand, the non-vaccinated will still be wearing masks, and easily identifiable and ostracized by both staff and patrons.



??? not vaxxed and not wearing a mask.


----------



## Sneakers

Grumpy said:


> ??? not vaxxed and not wearing a mask.


Oh, no one would do that.......  that would be deceitful.


----------



## rio

Sneakers said:


> Oh, no one would do that.......  that would be deceitful.


Can't we just use the old Clinton (?) stand-by of "don't ask, don't tell"?


----------



## kwillia

rio said:


> Can't we just use the old Clinton (?) stand-by of "don't ask, don't tell"?


Whew... I thought you were going to go with "... did not have sexual relations..."


----------



## GURPS

Pilot study on burden of fungal contamination in face masks: need for better mask hygiene in the COVID-19 era​
Abstract​Risk factors which led to the outbreak of COVID-19 associated Mucormycosis still remains elusive. Face masks can become contaminated by fungal spores that are present ubiquitously in the environment. However the exact burden of such contamination is not known. Fifty masks of patients who attended the Employees Health Scheme COVID-19 facility of a tertiary healthcare centre in India were sampled by direct impression smears on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar. Agar plates were screened for any growth within five days after incubation. Growth was identified by microscopy on the Lactophenol Cotton Blue mount. Mask hygiene practices of participants was assessed using a pre-designed proforma. Out of 50 masks, fungal contamination was seen in 35/50 (70%) masks, with _Aspergillus sp_. being isolated from 26/50 (52%) masks and Mucorales being isolated from 9/50 (18%) of the masks. _Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus_ _a_ _rrhizus_ and _Syncephalastrum sp_. were the most common species isolated. Same mask was worn for a median duration of 8 days (2-30 days) at a stretch with or without washing. Thirty one patients washed and re-wore their masks, with median time duration since last wash being 12 hours (4-72 hours). None of the factors assessed for mask hygiene were associated with fungal contamination. High rates of fungal contamination observed in our study emphasizes the need for better mask hygiene in the COVID-19 era.


----------



## GURPS

Can Someone Ask The Experts™ Why Masks and Interventions Stopped Working in Japan and South Korea?​

Ah yes the widespread practice of wearing masks. No mention of the statistical impossibility of masks causing the decline when _they were worn before the surge started_.

Obviously, given the percentage of people happily complying with masking, Japan must be a COVID-free paradise, right?

Let’s check!





Oh no. That is not great.

When the story was published on October 18th, Japan was averaging 518 cases each day. By mid-February, that number was 94,491, an increase of 18,142%.







I wonder if there’ll be any new stories implying that masks don’t work because the curve went up over 18,000% a few months after they tried to credit mask wearing with bringing it down.

But that’s just one part of the story — Japan also has an exceptionally high vaccination rate, which, naturally, was mentioned as a possible explanation for the “bewildering” decline.



> Many credit the vaccination campaign, especially among younger people, for bringing infections down. Nearly 70 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.



Well obviously that percentage has only increased over time, so let’s see how effective their high vaccination rate has been in preventing another surge:






Nailed it.

As always, the media completely ignores the impact of seasonal effects on COVID spread. One of the easiest ways to visualize this is by overlaying cases from year to year:







It’s important to note that numbers on each axis are vastly different to allow for better comparison, but it’s immediately obvious that increases and decreases have happened within weeks of each other — the 2021-2022 curve is essentially slightly delayed from 2020-2021. With that in mind, it’s clear that we would expect cases in Japan to peak in a matter of days. And the top of the orange curve indicates that’s likely to happen, right on schedule.


----------



## GURPS

‘You Can Wear The Mask On Your F****** Balls!’​


A Board of Education member in a suburban Chicago community cursed at a man — who claimed he had a medical exemption for not wearing a mask — as the maskless man spoke during the public comment period of the meeting. Board member Joel Taub snapped, “You can wear the mask on your f****** balls! If you don’t wear the f****** mask, you get the f*** out of here!”

The exchange occurred at a meeting of the Glenbrook High School District 225 Board of Education. The Board represents the towns of Northbrook, Glenview, and parts of Northfield Township.


The man offering public comment at the meeting —where all the audience in a video of the meeting can be seen wearing masks — began by saying, “I’m starting my clock here, so I’ll stay the exact two minutes.”

The moderator interrupted, “I’m sorry, sir, sir, you need you to put on your mask.”

The man, whose first name is Mark, replied, “Should I stop my clock? I can’t — President Biden and (Illinois Democratic Governor) J.B. Pritzker both speak without a mask. And I do have an exemption. Will you allow me to speak? Please, I’m not going to interrupt you when you speak.”


----------



## Hijinx

GURPS said:


> ‘You Can Wear The Mask On Your F****** Balls!’​
> 
> 
> A Board of Education member in a suburban Chicago community cursed at a man — who claimed he had a medical exemption for not wearing a mask — as the maskless man spoke during the public comment period of the meeting. Board member Joel Taub snapped, “You can wear the mask on your f****** balls! If you don’t wear the f****** mask, you get the f*** out of here!”
> 
> The exchange occurred at a meeting of the Glenbrook High School District 225 Board of Education. The Board represents the towns of Northbrook, Glenview, and parts of Northfield Township.
> 
> 
> The man offering public comment at the meeting —where all the audience in a video of the meeting can be seen wearing masks — began by saying, “I’m starting my clock here, so I’ll stay the exact two minutes.”
> 
> The moderator interrupted, “I’m sorry, sir, sir, you need you to put on your mask.”
> 
> The man, whose first name is Mark, replied, “Should I stop my clock? I can’t — President Biden and (Illinois Democratic Governor) J.B. Pritzker both speak without a mask. And I do have an exemption. Will you allow me to speak? Please, I’m not going to interrupt you when you speak.”


Joe Taub has a real mouth on him. Did he learn that in college?


----------



## GURPS

Nevada Univ. students walk out of class in protest demanding reinstatement of mask mandate​
Dozens of students at the University of Nevada-Reno were spotted marching through campus demanding the reinstatement of the recently abandoned mask mandate in the state. 

"Reinstate, mask mandate!" dozens of students chanted repeatedly as they marched across campus in Reno, Nevada Monday in a video captured by KRNV reporter Ben Margiott.


----------



## GURPS

Covidians Back Themselves into a Corner on Forced Masking​


When you take into account the divisiveness, unscientific nonsense, and tyrannical madness that has gone into the mask wars over the past two years, the thought that it could have all been avoided with a simple compromise is astoundingly frustrating to say the least. What, you ask? You mean there has always been a workable solution to insane, hypochondriac mask nazis doing everything possible to force damp, bacteria-laden pieces of cloth over everyone’s faces for nigh-on 22 months now? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying, and the solution was so obvious, so perfect, and so logical that, ever true to Branch Covidian form, it has been entirely avoided by the powers-that-be … until now.

That solution, of course, is "one-way masking," and the concept, which Team Reality has known about since the forced masking insanity began, is finally gaining steam among leftists who are ready to take the OMICRON off-ramp but aren’t sure what to tell their more crazed, uh, risk-averse Covidian cultists. Here are just a few examples.

From an article for The Atlantic titled "One-Way Masking Works," by Olga Khazan:


"If you are vaccinated, boosted, and wearing a well-fitted N95 or similar indoors, 'your risk is extremely low,' says Joseph Allen, a COVID and ventilation expert at Harvard. 'I mean, there’s not much else in life that would have as low a risk as that. I would qualify your risk as de minimis.' An N95 mask filters about 95 percent of airborne particles. But two surgical masks—one on me, one on you—filter only about 91 percent, Allen wrote recently for The Washington Post. Because most people’s masks aren’t perfectly sealed onto their faces, studies show that N95s reduce the wearer’s uptake of coronavirus particles by 57 to 86 percent. And that’s on top of the protection that vaccines and boosters already offer."​


----------



## GURPS

Fmr. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield Is Done With Masks. Twitter Notes The Irony​





Redfield went on to call for "personal responsibility" instead of governmental mandates. 

"There's no question that masks can play a role," he continued. "I think people really overplay the role that they play. Most of what is happening to this pandemic is more dependent on the virus and how the virus is evolving in the population rather than what the population does."

In other words, virus gonna virus. Right, doc? That's what Team Reality has been trying to get the left to understand this entire pandemic. It would have been nice to see people like Redfield say this sooner, but better late than never, I guess.


----------



## GURPS

... he undercut his own logic by contending that masks can be protective, thus prompting the question: If your mask protects you, why do I need to wear one?

Of course, "one-way masking" with masks that may actually provide some protection has been the answer the entire time to the societal contagion of forcibly masking everyone. While members of the general public forced to wear masks often pay little attention to quality or to wearing them correctly (mandating even N95s has done little to nothing to curb the spread in Europe), someone wearing a properly fitted N95 conscientiously and purposefully to protect themselves is more likely to do so correctly and consistently, thus possibly resulting in some actual protection in spaces where the virus may be prevalent.



https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scottmorefield/2022/02/02/dr-ashish-jha-took-less-than-one-minute-to-inadvertently-demolish-the-entire-con-n2602753


----------



## GURPS

There Is Little Evidence That Mask Mandates Had an Important Impact During the Omicron Surge​

Nationwide, according to the _New York Times_ database, the seven-day average of daily new cases rose sharply from mid-December to January 17 and has fallen just as sharply since then, which is consistent with the experience in other countries after omicron emerged. The same basic pattern was seen in nearly every state. Overall, there is no obvious difference between states with mask mandates and states without them.

Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, notes that the graph for California, which required masks in indoor public settings beginning on December 15, is "strikingly similar" to the graph for Florida, which had no mask mandates. He adds that the two states "had nearly identical infection rates."

That second observation requires a caveat, since testing rates affect the number of cases that are recorded. California tested a larger share of its population at the peak of its omicron surge than Florida did, and Florida's positivity rate was higher, which suggests that Florida missed a larger share of infections than California. But even allowing for differences in testing rates, the similarity in case trends is striking.

"At first blush," Jha says, it "looks like their different COVID strategies did not end up mattering much." But despite an official infection rate that was virtually the same as California's, he adds, "Florida had 33% more deaths per capita than California" during the omicron surge.

If Florida's case numbers understate the true number of infections more than California's do, that could partially explain the difference in COVID-19 deaths per capita. So could age demographics: The median age of Florida's population is 42.5, compared to 37 in California. Jha thinks vaccination rates are another important factor: While "only 59% of eligible Florida seniors have gotten boosted," he notes, the rate for California is 70 percent.








Been saying this form 2 yrs MASKS DO NOT WORK


----------



## UglyBear

GURPS said:


> There Is Little Evidence That Mask Mandates Had an Important Impact During the Omicron Surge​
> 
> Nationwide, according to the _New York Times_ database, the seven-day average of daily new cases rose sharply from mid-December to January 17 and has fallen just as sharply since then, which is consistent with the experience in other countries after omicron emerged. The same basic pattern was seen in nearly every state. Overall, there is no obvious difference between states with mask mandates and states without them.
> 
> Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, notes that the graph for California, which required masks in indoor public settings beginning on December 15, is "strikingly similar" to the graph for Florida, which had no mask mandates. He adds that the two states "had nearly identical infection rates."
> 
> That second observation requires a caveat, since testing rates affect the number of cases that are recorded. California tested a larger share of its population at the peak of its omicron surge than Florida did, and Florida's positivity rate was higher, which suggests that Florida missed a larger share of infections than California. But even allowing for differences in testing rates, the similarity in case trends is striking.
> 
> "At first blush," Jha says, it "looks like their different COVID strategies did not end up mattering much." But despite an official infection rate that was virtually the same as California's, he adds, "Florida had 33% more deaths per capita than California" during the omicron surge.
> 
> If Florida's case numbers understate the true number of infections more than California's do, that could partially explain the difference in COVID-19 deaths per capita. So could age demographics: The median age of Florida's population is 42.5, compared to 37 in California. Jha thinks vaccination rates are another important factor: While "only 59% of eligible Florida seniors have gotten boosted," he notes, the rate for California is 70 percent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Been saying this form 2 yrs MASKS DO NOT WORK


“They” need to clutch masks like a baby blanket .  Nothing logical, deep sub-conscious emotion.  Don’t try to argue, it’s beyond that.


----------



## GURPS

UglyBear said:


> “They” need to clutch masks like a baby blanket .




Of Virtual Signal their moral superiority like public self flagellation


----------



## Hijinx

They are born slaves to regulations. Freedom means nothing to them, because they always had and don't know what it's loss would mean.


----------



## GURPS

Little Eichmanns Do Not Like Being Questioned​
*"We sat here last year and listened to you guys preach about Gov. Northam's executive orders and how we must follow them," she said, adding, "Here's a governor who comes into office, but yet you don't want to follow his orders," in reference to current Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's executive order abolishing school mask mandates across the state.*







"Here's a picture of you, right here, on Facebook with a crowd of people with no mask on," the parent said, pointing to a photo displayed on her smartphone. 

The board member featured in the photo quickly shut down the parent's accusations, claiming her words were ineffective and libelous while she claimed she did not use her time to focus on issues pertinent to children. 

"If you are going to sit there and disparage a member of our school board, then you can sit down," the board member said.

The pro-mask board member requested that a police officer escort the parent out of the building as she continued firing off her accusations, but another member interjected on the parent's behalf before she could be removed. 

"She should be allowed to say her peace," the member said. "I've had to listen to people come and criticize me."

After participating in a heated exchange with her colleague who rushed to the disgruntled parent's defense, the pro-mask board member stormed out of the meeting and time was called to conclude the exchange.


----------



## kom526

Excerpt from an internal email from my company.

*New Information:*  Although we are hearing a lot about states lifting their indoor mask mandates now or in the near future, WE will continue to follow our internal guidelines and policies.
ScI3ncE™!


----------



## GURPS

‘Why Do We Have To Wear Pants?’​


----------



## Hijinx

Pants cover my dick and my bare ass, the mask covers my face and I don't breathe through my dick or my ass.


----------



## rio

Hijinx said:


> Pants cover my dick and my bare ass, the mask covers my face and I don't breathe through my dick or my ass.


Your pants protect my eyes, my pants protect your eyes. Science, man, science.


----------



## TPD

There is no sign on my door stating pants and/or shorts are required. You should see some the stuff that walks in during the summer months...


----------



## Kyle




----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS




----------



## DaSDGuy

Now the chickens have to wear masks.  It's the way.









						UPDATE: Two Additional Cases Of Avian Influenza Confirmed On Delaware And Maryland Farms - The BayNet
					

UPDATE – Federal laboratory testing has confirmed two cases of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI)—one pullet operation in New Castle County, Delaware, and one broiler flock in Queen Anne’s […]




					thebaynet.com


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

The Big Lift: It's Not Going to Work​

You don’t have to be a cynic to believe that the lifting of the mask mandates has to do with the 2022 midterms. The masks were never really scientific; they were always a Democrat-crafted bridle.

They may have impeded Dr. Anthony “Gain-of-Function” Fauci’s droplets, just like they impede any viral droplets. But as the omicron variant proved, unless it’s an N95 secured with duct tape, the microscopic airborne agents do their dirty work. Some experts conclude that the masks may have been counterproductive, with all that Fauci “fidgeting.”

How in hell can a person sit unmasked at a restaurant table while all around them people walk to their tables with masks on? Wouldn’t the sitter be spewing the viral agents? So much of it just didn’t add up. When grassroots anti-vax alarm bells started ringing, the narrative became: “Okay, we’re going to see a lot of breakthrough cases, but the severity of illness would have been much worse if not for the vaccines.”

There was no way of knowing what, or who, to believe.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## Hijinx

GURPS said:


> The Big Lift: It's Not Going to Work​
> 
> You don’t have to be a cynic to believe that the lifting of the mask mandates has to do with the 2022 midterms. The masks were never really scientific; they were always a Democrat-crafted bridle.
> 
> They may have impeded Dr. Anthony “Gain-of-Function” Fauci’s droplets, just like they impede any viral droplets. But as the omicron variant proved, unless it’s an N95 secured with duct tape, the microscopic airborne agents do their dirty work. Some experts conclude that the masks may have been counterproductive, with all that Fauci “fidgeting.”
> 
> How in hell can a person sit unmasked at a restaurant table while all around them people walk to their tables with masks on? Wouldn’t the sitter be spewing the viral agents? So much of it just didn’t add up. When grassroots anti-vax alarm bells started ringing, the narrative became: “Okay, we’re going to see a lot of breakthrough cases, but the severity of illness would have been much worse if not for the vaccines.”
> 
> There was no way of knowing what, or who, to believe.


If it came from Joe Biden more than likely it was a lie.
If it came from Pelosi, Schiff , Nadler, or most any other Democrats it was 90-10 a certainty.
If it came from CNN, MSNBC, CBS NBC NY Slimes Wapo definitely a lie.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

Capitol Mask Mandate Conveniently Lifted Just in Time for Biden's SOTU​





As Townhall covered previously, the Capitol physician's earlier February 17th rules for the State of the union included requirements for masking, social distancing, a negative COVID test, and avoiding physical contact with others. Those initial guidelines included a threat that "failure to follow guidelines or removal of the mask in the House Chamber will result in the attendee's removal from the event and/or fines."

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) reacted to the news of changing science by poking at Democrats who are now trying to catch up with guidelines issued long ago under Republican governors. "Follow the political theater!" he tweeted. "House mask mandate suspended just in time for State of the Union."


----------



## GURPS




----------



## Hijinx

It's an election year.


----------



## GURPS

*How New Zealand's Covid success made it a laboratory for the world*​
In April 2021, _The Guardian _described in great detail how New Zealand’s competence and unwavering commitment to science made them one of the world’s most valuable resources in understanding how COVID spread.

Their policies allowed for the country to avoid lockdowns by tracking the virus quickly and efficiently:



> That knowledge has proven critical for New Zealand’s pandemic response, allowing it to avoid longer lockdowns by more precisely mapping the spread.



*Hilariously, their tracking efforts provided yet another point of evidence against the endless push for universal masking:*



> That scenario had dealt with two residents in the country’s managed isolation and quarantine [MIQ] facilities – David and Jane*. David had caught Covid-19 on a plane en-route to New Zealand – then, at some point during his stay, transmitted it to Jane, who happened to be staying in the neighbouring room.



*How, I wonder, did “David” catch COVID on a plane when masks are required on planes?

The same bewildering ignorance can be applied to another sentence from the article, describing how two people who never interacted caught COVID from each other:*



> In the case of Jane and David, it added to a growing body of research establishing how and where aerosol transmission could occur, even between people who weren’t physically occupying the same space.



*As is evident from a review of available pre-COVID evidence, masks do not stop aerosols. Aerosol transmission essentially ends any pretense of controlling or stopping COVID in the long run, because it only requires shared air space with someone who’s infected with the virus.

Masks do not stop the spread of aerosols, nor do they protect against inhaling them.*

Any reasonable individual reviewing this case would immediately advocate for an end to forced universal masking since there is clearly no benefit against aerosols.

Unsurprisingly, that is not what happened in New Zealand.


[clip]


So how successful has New Zealand been in eliminating COVID in the long term through effective communication, public compliance and early lockdowns?


----------



## GURPS

‘It’s A State Of The Union Miracle!’: Cruz Mocks White House Dropping Mask Requirement Hours Before Biden’s SOTU​




In mid-January, Cruz argued that it was hypocritical for reporters to ask him and other Republicans why they weren’t wearing masks at a press conference when reporters wouldn’t ask President Biden or White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about eschewing masks when speaking to the press.

“And by the way, on the question of hypocrisy, you just asked, you people at the podium are speaking without masks. Just once, I’d like to see a reporter say to Joe Biden when he stands at the damn podium in the White House without a mask, ‘Mr. President, why aren’t you wearing a mask?’” Cruz said, according to Fox News. “Just once, I’d like to see you say to Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, when she stands at the podium with no mask, ‘Ms. Psaki, why don’t you have a mask?’ The questions are only directed at one side, and I got to say that the American people see the hypocrisy.”

Cruz also stated, “I think there’s been wild hypocrisy from the Biden administration when it comes to COVID policies [on] mask mandates where Joe Biden rightly said we shouldn’t have mandates, [on] vaccine mandates where Joe Biden said we shouldn’t have vaccine mandates. As far as I know, everyone here has been vaccinated, double vaccinated, been boosted at some point.”


----------



## GURPS

The Mask Cultists Are All Alone Now​

You're already seeing it, and the new narrative is going to be, "Well, I'm not a slave to the government; I don't do what they always tell me." The mask cult is going to adopt that—it's their only move. COVID restrictions are being lifted everywhere. In the bluest of enclaves, mask mandates are going bye-bye. Even Congress is lifting the mask mandate before Joe Biden's State of the Union address tonight.

What's painfully obvious as well is that this pivot is going to fall on deaf ears. No one cares. COVID is over. We have three vaccines. We have therapeutics. It's a virus with a 99-plus percent survival rate. We're all done. The only people who will go hypoxic over the end of the COVID regime are teachers and the mentally ill. They're going to learn quickly that they'll be the only ones yelling in the street. _They're the minority_. And one way to really lose everyone is to call them ableist and other terms that often elicit mockery because they're beyond ridiculous. Yeah, sorry, if taking my mask off and living life makes me an ableist, then I'm a hardcore ableist, a proud one. Suck on that.









_ and the narrative shifts- if this WAS THE TRUTH Then Why Mask EVERYONE ?_

@TPD


----------



## GURPS

Prince George’s County And D.C. Lift Mask Mandates This Week​

Prince George’s was the last holdout in deciding to end mandatory masking; D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced two weeks ago that the District’s requirement would be ending, while Montgomery County lawmakers allowed the mandate to expire on Feb. 22. Many Virginians, meanwhile, have been going mask-free for months; on Tuesday a new state law goes into effect ending school mask mandates in the commonwealth. Meanwhile, Loudoun County also announced the end of its mask mandate in county-owned and county-operated facilities, effective Feb 26.

At the press conference, Alsobrooks spoke about the pandemic in the past tense, reflecting on her county’s challenges and successes battling COVID-19. “It’s been a frightening two years for so many of us,” said Alsobrooks, who tested positive for COVID-19 in December. But she also cautioned residents that the pandemic is not over yet. The end of the mask mandate, she said, “signals a transition into the next phase of our fight against COVID-19, but it does not mean that COVID-19 is gone from our community.”


----------



## TPD

GURPS said:


> _ and the narrative shifts- if this WAS THE TRUTH Then Why Mask EVERYONE ?_
> 
> @TPD



I asked that question on these very forums a year or more ago - are they one way or two way masks? They kept changing the directions for masks so we never knew.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

SNL Admits Mandates Were Wrong, But Instead of Apology We Get Cringey Skit​








_They deserve it._ I enjoy imagining the internal screaming going on in every one of the COVID fear peddlers’ psyches in the coming days as the kids in our lockdown- and mandate-happy states bring nothing but smiling faces to school. It’s finally here. The day of reckoning.

Ben Shapiro did not like this skit, finding it “too little too late.” He particularly doesn’t like conservatives sharing this and finding it funny.

“All I could think when I watched this skit is how angry I am,” he said. “Many of us were saying this well over a year ago…and they’re mildy embarrassed that they weren’t able to talk about it or that now they’re able to say it,” he continued. “You were mocking people for a year for saying what you are saying now.”


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...

I think those without the clot shot are still required to wear their face diaper. Many are not attending due to this fact.


----------



## TPD

My man DeSantis!


----------



## GURPS

Democrats Have A Teachers Union Problem​

WASHINGTON, DC — Washington’s mask mandate ended Tuesday morning.

It had been nearly two years, and on its final day, stood as one of the country’s last remaining hold-outs. Texas, in contrast, had ended theirs a full year before — while a number of states across the country never even had one at all.

But back in Washington Tuesday morning, a public school employee closed the door in the face of a five-year-old boy who hadn’t brought his mask. It was 39 degrees outside.

[clip]

*On Tuesday afternoon*, D.C. Public Schools sent parents an email. They were making progress against Covid, they crowed, so the kids would be allowed to take their masks off — outside.

What goal post had they reached? One hundred and seventy-four positive cases out of 46,000. That is 0.3 percent — falling far below even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s benchmark for continued restrictions.

That evening, as children played outside in their masks, an employee confidently told one mother she hadn’t heard anything about any policy change.

Tomorrow morning, as the temperatures hover around 40 degrees, a five-year-old boy will be forced to stand in the cold until he puts on a mask; left out in the cold, with the rest of the children.


----------



## glhs837

Freaking lunacy. Its become a religion. So, airplanes? I've been to busy to check. Just looked, seems the TSA hasn't said squat, but their rule expires the 18th. SInce I might have to go to Hawaii for something happening the 17th, I hope it dies early.


----------



## Hijinx

I thought I had a pretty good sense of humor,. That skit had a couple of mildly funny parts, but it certainly wasn't as funny as advertised.
It could have stated here we are sitting at this restaurant without masks and we are safe because we are sitting whil walking i her without a mask we would have been at risk.


----------



## Kyle

Requirements for masking have been lifted in Federal buildings finally.

Lets see how ####ing long it lasts this time.


----------



## kwillia

Kyle said:


> Requirements for masking have been lifted in Federal buildings finally.
> 
> Lets see how ####ing long it lasts this time.


I'm going to assume it will correlate with the ups and downs of fuel prices. Right now fuel is 'up' so mask 'down'.


----------



## Sneakers

NAS Patuxent River Updates COVID Mask Policy Effective March 2, 2022 - Southern Maryland News Net
					

NAS Patuxent River announced March 2 that indoor mask-wearing is not required for DoD personnel in all but two DoD spaces at NAS Patuxent River, regardless of vaccination status. The two exceptions to this policy are the Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River and NAS Patuxent River Child and Youth...




					smnewsnet.com


----------



## GURPS

NYC Drops Vaccine Passport, K-12 Mask Mandates – But Students Under 5 Still Have To Mask Up​

The vaccine passport system for gyms, restaurants, and entertainment areas will end on Monday, along with K-12 school mask requirements. Adams spoke in Times Square and said New York City is ready to get past COVID-19 rules that have negatively impacted the city’s economy over the past two years.

“This is clearly an Arnold Schwarzenegger moment,” Adams said, per Politico. “We’ll be back.”

He pointed to the city’s vaccination rate and low amount of new COVID-19 cases as reasons for getting rid of the requirements.

“The rates are low enough that the mandatory program is no longer needed,” he said. “Those few that it’s gonna take a while, I understand it. But the overwhelming number of New Yorkers are ready.”


----------



## GURPS

Chicago Public Schools To Lift Mask Mandate, Teachers Union Immediately Pushes Back​

As the Chicago Tribune reported, “CPS’ announcement comes three days before a March 10 court date for the district and downstate attorney Tom DeVore, who has been trying to halt the CPS mask and exclusion mandate. Parents who participated in DeVore’s litigation challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s school COVID-19 policies argued the CPS mask mandate violates their students’ due process rights.”

“I am in receipt of the CPS announcement that effective Monday, March 14, 2022 the district will drop its unlawful mask mandate. It’s unfortunate CPS had to be faced with the imminent issuance of a restraining order before finding the courage to take a stand against the teachers union unlawful bargaining provisions,” DeVore said in a statement. “I’m excited for the parents of CPS students who will now be free to exercise their right to choose what’s best for their children instead of being dictated to by overreaching bureaucracies. The rule of law exists to protect everyone in this state including all children who attend CPS. I will not stop until we are certain these unlawful mandates are never forced upon any child of this state again.”

The teachers union said Monday it “will immediately be filing an unfair labor practice charge against the district in response, and requesting that CPS bargain over this decision.” Compulsory masking is one of the parts of the COVID-19 deal the teachers union made with CPS in January after a disagreement resulted in five days of canceled classes for students.


----------



## TPD

NYC making kids under 5 mask up is just plain *******ry.


----------



## Grumpy




----------



## GURPS

CDC’s silly stalling on flight masks​
The TSA announcement comes as virtually all states and major cities have dropped their indoor mask mandates in response to plunging numbers of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. It also comes a week after the CDC eased its mask guidance for communities which overnight reduced recommendations for indoor masking from roughly 95 percent to about 37 percent of US counties. The numbers have only improved since — CDC’s latest update shows that 98 percent of Americans who live in 94 percent of US counties need not mask. 

CDC’s guidelines moved from measuring community transmission to measuring community levels of disease — how much strain the virus is placing on a community’s health-care system as indicated by new COVID hospitalizations, the share of hospital beds occupied by patients admitted for COVID and new COVID cases. The new guidelines recognized that with the predominant, highly contagious but generally mild, Omicron variant, measuring transmission became much less important.


----------



## my-thyme

TPD said:


> NYC making kids under 5 mask up is just plain *******ry.


uh, last I heard, so is SMCPS......


----------



## rio

my-thyme said:


> uh, last I heard, so is SMCPS......


Not SMCPS, they haven't been since the end of February. Head Start, which is housed with-in SMCPS still has to mask indoors and out.


----------



## my-thyme

rio said:


> Not SMCPS, they haven't been since the end of February. Head Start, which is housed with-in SMCPS still has to mask indoors and


Yeah, under 5 still has to mask.


----------



## rio

Only in Head Start, otherwise it's the parents choice. Unless there is a school where principal made a decision only for their school.


----------



## TPD

Masking under 5? No damn sense! A Dr B thing?


----------



## GURPS

Yet Another Misleading Mask Study Will be Used to Justify Masking Kids​

The study had admirable goals — an attempt to assess the importance of masking in preventing “secondary” cases. Primary cases are defined as infections that came from the community, while secondary cases refers to transmission that seemingly occurred in schools.

To do this, the researchers contacted 13,800 school districts. 143 responded with interest in filling out a survey. 85 completed the survey. Here’s how that looks visually:





Immediately, the problems are noticeable.

When contacting that many districts and only 85 out of 13,800 actually complete the survey, they’re likely pre-selecting for districts convinced their policies mattered. And only 61 of the 85 consistently reported data that could be used for their results.

But don’t worry, it gets so, so much worse.


Of the 61 districts where the results were tracked, the breakdown of forced vs optional masking was unbelievably lopsided.

I mean, really, REALLY lopsided:






Out of 61 school districts included — 6 were mask optional. Less than 10%.

How is that remotely useful? These aren’t comparable data sets. It’s not balanced, 30 vs. 30, for example.

But it gets worse. So, so much worse.

[clip]

However, CDC guidance on contact tracing instructs schools to treat masked interactions very differently. If districts followed that guidance, masked students who were within 3-6 feet of masked, COVID positive students are not classified as a “close contact.”

Because the CDC assumes mask work (lol), they specifically instructed schools to treat possible transmission between two masked students differently, leading to contact tracers potentially mislabeling those who wore masks as “primary” infections.

By wearing a mask, you are no longer a “close contact” of another infected student who also wore a mask. How the CDC managed to justify that policy should be grounds for an entire psychological study in and of itself, but it’s virtually impossible to overstate how much of an impact that could have in contact tracing data among these schools.


----------



## LightRoasted

If I may ...

Remember, it is all based on "guidance" aka, simply, recommendations.


----------



## GURPS

JetBlue, American, Southwest pilots sue CDC over federal mask mandate​

In court paperwork, the 10 commercial airline pilots – who work for American JetBlue and Southwest – argued that the CDC issued an order "Requirement for Persons to Wear Masks While on Conveyances & at Transportation Hubs" on Feb. 1, 2020 "without providing public notice or soliciting comment."

The pilots are asking the court to "vacate worldwide the FTMM (federal transportation mask mandate)" calling the move an "illegal and unconstitutional exercise of executive authority."

The Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) mask mandate went into effect on Feb. 1, 2021, and was originally set to expire on May 11, 2021. However, the TSA has extended the mandate several times since then as infections rose nationwide. The rule now remains in place through April 18.


----------



## stgislander

So it appears that I cannot fly out to San Diego for work until after Apr 18th.


----------



## TPD

stgislander said:


> So it appears that I cannot fly out to San Diego for work until after Apr 18th.


yeah prolly bc Biden has already said he will veto the bill moving thru congress to eliminate the mandate on planes.


----------



## stgislander

TPD said:


> yeah prolly bc Biden has already said he will veto the bill moving thru congress to eliminate the mandate on planes.


Looks like I may never get there then.


----------



## TPD

stgislander said:


> Looks like I may never get there then.


me neither.


----------



## my-thyme

Not going near an airplane until this mandate is lifted.


----------



## TPD

The last time I flew was in May of 2020.  Flew to Atlanta to take my daughter to dinner.  Georgia had just "reopened" - no mask mandates, unlike Maryland at the time.  This was the first trip in 2 months since the lockdowns/masks had begun.  We were still required to wear a "face covering" on the plane but not in the airports.  I wore my infamous face shield that Dr. B is on record saying they do absolutely nothing to stop the spread of the sweet-n-sour sickness.  At that time you could wear any face covering on the plane - bandana, turtleneck, face shield.  Ah the good ole days!


----------



## Kyle

There were a couple of times I thought about buying one of these…


----------



## my-thyme

Kyle said:


> There were a couple of times I thought about buying one of these…
> 
> 
> View attachment 163287


I wonder if they'd throw you off the plane as they did the man with his Brandon mask?


----------



## RoseRed

my-thyme said:


> I wonder if they'd throw you off the plane as they did the man with his Brandon mask?


Or the guy with the bright red thong.


----------



## my-thyme

RoseRed said:


> Or the guy with the bright red thong.


I didn't see that one....


----------



## Kyle

my-thyme said:


> I didn't see that one....


----------



## Kyle




----------



## rio

"Yeah, it's not what's specified in the thing".




Well, I guess that makes it official!


----------



## GURPS

"99 percent of the population put them on.”

“Experts now say widespread mask usage appears to be a major reason, perhaps even the primary one, why the city hasn’t been devastated by the disease.”

“If not for universal masking once we depart from our home every day…Hong Kong would be like Italy,” said an expert government advisor.

These quotes illustrate how experts and their partners in the media have operated during COVID — present unproven claims with zero evidence, repeat them as stated fact, and use their assertions to enforce mandates based on appealing to their own (generally incompetent) authority.

We may never learn the motivations behind the great mask wearing shift in early 2020, when experts disregarded years of carefully collected pre-pandemic planning by recommending universal masking, but this article does provides a helpful explanation.

Many of them believed in propaganda.

Survey data has confirmed that mask usage has remained remarkably high and demonstrably consistent over time.

So has it worked?





Well, not exactly.

In just a matter of weeks, cases in Hong Kong rose from a daily average of 1 per million to 5,089 per million, an increase of 508,800%.

Mask compliance remained unchanged. The Science™ was wrong. The Experts™ were wrong. Even with perhaps the world’s most dedicated mask wearing populace, the numbers have exploded.






Despite Twitter promoted nutritionist Eric Feigl-Ding asserting that Hong Kong’s masking and interventions illustrated how to “defeat COVID,” newly reported deaths there are nearly 4x higher than they’ve ever been in the US.

Oh, and you may recall how the expert microbiologist advising the Hong Kong government claimed that without universal masking, Hong Kong would be like Italy…







Deaths in Hong Kong are now 2.5x higher than they were in Italy’s first wave.









						World Leading Mask Compliance Doesn't Matter
					

'Not wearing masks is like not wearing pants'




					ianmsc.substack.com


----------



## UglyBear

Went to the darkest depth of MoCo to do some kid crap, against my better judgement. 
It’s like being in a zombie apocalyptic landscape — everyone is wearing masks, and stare in disbelief at free faces.  Dang those “people” are f’ed.  Can they even come back to normality?


----------



## GURPS

UglyBear said:


> It’s like being in a zombie apocalyptic landscape — everyone is wearing masks, and stare in disbelief at free faces. Dang those “people” are f’ed. Can they even come back to normality?




You have that at the wal-mart in Waldorf


----------



## Kyle

L.A. Reinstitutes Mask Mandate To Protect People From Getting Slapped By Will Smith












						L.A. Reinstitutes Mask Mandate To Protect People From Getting Slapped By Will Smith
					

LOS ANGELES, CA—Following a dangerous upward trend of getting slapped by Will Smith, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has reinstituted a mask mandate to protect against further occurrences of getting slapped by Will Smith.




					babylonbee.com


----------



## GURPS

Professor finds he’s surrounded by the unmasked as he goes grocery shopping in a respirator​

We’re old enough to remember doing posts about mobs of people ganging up on that one person in the grocery store who wasn’t wearing a cloth mask, even though we’ve since been told that cloths masks are “little more than facial decoration” and you really need an N95 mask. We’re still masking up 2-year-olds as we wait for final emergency authorization of the COVID vaccine for babies.

This editor’s daughter is a chemist and has a respirator, but outside of work, she only wore it on Halloween to pass out candy dressed as a mad professor. This professor, though, Dr. James Smith of York University, put on his respirator to go grocery shopping and noted that most of the customers and employees were maskless. What a good occasion for a selfie to post on social media.


----------



## GURPS




----------



## TPD

My daughter went to National Harbor last weekend.  No problems at the restaurants, hotel, or casino as far as masks go (she paid to much for alcohol apparently at one of the bars in MGM), but when she went to the outlet center, she said every store had a sign on the door stating masks required per county code. She was able to go in every store without a mask except Famous Footwear - they made her put one on. Does PG county still require masks?

She also said the Uber driver would not allow her in the car till she masked. She argued with him. She lost.


----------



## Kyle

TPD said:


> My daughter went to National Harbor last weekend.  No problems at the restaurants, hotel, or casino as far as masks go (she paid to much for alcohol apparently at one of the bars in MGM), but when she went to the outlet center, she said every store had a sign on the door stating masks required per county code. She was able to go in every store without a mask except Famous Footwear - they made her put one on. Does PG county still require masks?
> 
> She also said the Uber driver would not allow her in the car till she masked. She argued with him. She lost.


Every one of these hypochondriacs should bear a tattoo on their forehead for identification purposes and for the rest of their lives have three masks stapled to their faces 24/7.


----------



## GURPS

TPD said:


> My daughter went to National Harbor last weekend.  No problems at the restaurants, hotel, or casino as far as masks go (she paid to much for alcohol apparently at one of the bars in MGM), but when she went to the outlet center, she said every store had a sign on the door stating masks required per county code. She was able to go in every store without a mask except Famous Footwear - they made her put one on. Does PG county still require masks?
> 
> She also said the Uber driver would not allow her in the car till she masked. She argued with him. She lost.




Not as far as I know


----------



## GURPS

Guy Has Bizarre Meltdown Over People Not Wearing Masks In Washington D.C. In Viral Video​


----------



## GURPS

Pennsylvania judge boots 5 Dems from school board over mask mandate​
A Pennsylvania judge ordered five school board members who voted at the beginning of the school year to make masks mandatory to be immediately removed from office.

The order is a result of a parent-filed petition to the West Chester Area School District back in February, according to public media organization WHYY. One of the parents, Beth Ann Rosica, argued that under the Pennsylvania school code districts have no authority to require students to wear masks.

The five removed were all the Democrats. The lawyer representing them, Kenneth Roos from Wisler Pearlstine, LLP, said they submitted a motion for reconsideration of Judge William Mahon's order Tuesday night. The group anticipated it would be accepted for filing Wednesday morning.

The board opted to continue requiring masks after Pennsylvania's state of emergency first ended in June 2021. It kept the decision in place two months after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared the mandate unconstitutional in December. 

The decision from the Court of Common Pleas "states that the removal of the board members named in the petition was a ‘procedural result’ and does not address any of the allegations made in the complaint" a statement from Superintendent Dr. Robert Sokolowski reads. "Special counsel to the district is in the process of preparing a substantive response on behalf of those school board members named in the petition."


----------



## GURPS

Excellent Mask Mandate Lawsuit



Brought pro se, by airline attendants. Lots of good medical research recited. Highlighted, as customary.




Trocano-v-CDC-Complaint-FILED_copy.pdf


----------



## GURPS

Angry mom who confronted Adams on toddler mask mandate fired from city job​

The Big Apple mom who crashed Mayor Eric Adams’ press conference Monday to blast him over his tot mask mandate was fired shortly afterward from her job at the city Law Department, The Post has learned. 

Daniela Jampel, who served as an assistant corporation counsel, learned she was canned less than an hour after she confronted a caught-off-guard and apparently annoyed Adams over when he would “unmask our toddlers.”

Jampel had publicly challenged the mayor at an unrelated event on LGBTQ issues — as Adams stood in front of a podium banner that read, “Come to the city where you can say whatever you want.’’

“Three weeks ago, you told parents to trust you that you would unmask our toddlers,” Jampel told the mayor.


----------



## GURPS

Employee of ‘city where you can say whatever you want’ reportedly fired after saying ‘unmask our toddlers’ to NYC mayor​


----------



## Hijinx

What would happen to a white Mayor if he did this.?


----------



## my-thyme

Sitting here, waiting for grandson to finish PT. Masks required. 

I'm the only person sitting here, so it's under my chin. F-em.


----------



## stgislander

Just hear on the radio the CDC recommended extending the travel mask requirement another 15 days to May 3rd.

I swear they did that knowing that I have to fly out to San Diego the 1st week in May.


----------



## Kyle

stgislander said:


> Just hear on the radio the CDC recommended extending the travel mask requirement another 15 days to May 3rd.
> 
> I swear they did that knowing that I have to fly out to San Diego the 1st week in May.


Take a 1 pound bag of sunflower seeds and eat them one at a time about half a minute apart. Should last you all the way.


----------



## rio

Kyle said:


> Take a 1 pound bag of sunflower seeds and eat them one at a time about half a minute apart. Should last you all the way.


And after eating a pound of sunflower seeds put the mask on your butt in case you can't make it to the bathroom in time when you land.


----------



## GURPS

Late yesterday afternoon, The Washington Post published an op-ed by CNN’s TV doctor and former Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen headlined, “Opinion: Now Is Not The Time To Reinstate Mask Mandates.”

What??

Yes. Wen criticized Philadelphia for re-imposing its mask mandate on Monday. She said “it was premature for the local government to reimpose a mask requirement. Other cities should not follow suit.”












						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Thursday, April 14, 2022 ☙ TRANSFORMING 🦠
					

Elon offers to buy Twitter; CDC extends the airline mask mandate; Wen whacks Philadelphia’s mask mandate; the Economist gently criticizes China; evolving biology in US prisons; and lots more...




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


----------



## TPD

GURPS said:


> Late yesterday afternoon, The Washington Post published an op-ed by CNN’s TV doctor and former Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen headlined, “Opinion: Now Is Not The Time To Reinstate Mask Mandates.”
> 
> What??
> 
> Yes. Wen criticized Philadelphia for re-imposing its mask mandate on Monday. She said “it was premature for the local government to reimpose a mask requirement. Other cities should not follow suit.”


Fake news? Babylonbee?


----------



## stgislander

It is being reported that a federal judge has voided the latest extension of federal mask mandate for public transportation.


----------



## RoseRed

stgislander said:


> It is being reported that a federal judge has voided the latest extension of federal mask mandate for public transportation.











						Federal judge blocks mask mandate for public transportation
					

A federal judge on Monday voided the Biden administration's mask mandate for travelers using public transportation such as trains and airplanes.




					www.foxnews.com


----------



## TPD

So is the void of the mask mandate on planes immediate?  Can I get on a plane tonight without one?


----------



## GURPS

More Real World Data Confirms Masks Are Useless​








Here’s how the data looks:






The concise summary is that there is virtually no difference in likelihood of testing positive based on mask wearing in the UK.

The underlying data provided in the survey shows how useless mask wearing is in greater detail, as they’ve helpfully provided a breakdown of the sample sizes and results in the different categories.

Of the 28,942 adults surveyed who “always” wore a mask, 7%, or 2,020 tested positive.

Of those who indicated masks were “not needed,” 3,962 out of 66,545 tested positive, which is 5.95%.

The “sometimes” category resulted in a 7.3% positive testing rate, 1,073 out of 14,671, and the “never” group had an identical 7.3% percentage.

Similarly, among children, 164 of the 2,643 in the “always” wore masks designation tested positive, a rate of 6.2%. The “sometimes” category had 125 positives out of 2,446, which is a rate of 5.1%.

Compared to the reference group, those that “always” wore masks, both school aged children and adults had nearly identical results.

For example, the group of children who “never” wore masks were just as likely to test positive as those who “always” wore masks.

Masks don’t work.

Similarly, adults who worked or attended school in settings where masks were “not needed” were less likely to test positive than those who “always” wore masks in those same settings.

Masks don’t work.

Those who only wore masks “sometimes” had no significant difference either way.

Masks don’t work.


----------



## TPD

TPD said:


> So is the void of the mask mandate on planes immediate?  Can I get on a plane tonight without one?


So according to Bret Baier just now, TSA will NOT be mandating masks effective immediately!  So yeah I can get on a plane tonight without the face diaper.


----------



## Kyle

TPD said:


> So according to Bret Baier just now, TSA will NOT be mandating masks effective immediately!  So yeah I can get on a plane tonight without the face diaper.


So long as the airline doesn’t push it.

Some of those flight attendants turned in the real mask Nazis.


----------



## Agee

"_Mizelle examined the section of the *Public Health Services Act of 1944 *that was the basis for the mandate.  That law allows the CDC "to make and enforce such regulations" deemed "necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the States[.]" To achieve this, the law says that CDC can utilize "inspection, fumigation disinfection sanitation, pest extermination, destruction of animals or articles found to be so infect or contaminated as to be sources of dangerous infection to human beings, and other measures[.]" The administration, the judge noted, has claimed that the mask mandate falls under "sanitation."









						Federal judge blocks mask mandate for public transportation
					

A federal judge on Monday voided the Biden administration's mask mandate for travelers using public transportation such as trains and airplanes.




					www.foxnews.com
				



_


----------



## GURPS

Mask Mandate Struck Down!


mask-mandate-order_copy.pdf


----------



## GURPS

Airgasm said:


> The administration, the judge noted, has claimed that the mask mandate falls under "sanitation."




Yeah the Biden Administration has been claiming all sorts of administrative controls that does not exist


which is why 99% of the mandates have been struck down and the last surviving one should have been struck down as well


----------



## GURPS

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle for the Middle District of Florida ruled earlier in the day that the mandate was unlawful because the mandate “exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions.”

The ruling said that Court declared the mandate to be unlawful because “our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends.”

“The Court DECLARES UNLAWFUL and VACATES the Mask Mandate, remanding it to the CDC for further proceedings consistent with this order,” Mizelle ordered. “The Court directs the Clerk to TERMINATE President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., as a Defendant to this action, to ENTER final judgment in favor of Plaintiffs as prescribed in this order, and to CLOSE this case.”











						Biden Administration Responds To Florida Federal Judge Voiding National Mask Mandate On Airplanes | The Daily Wire
					






					www.dailywire.com


----------



## Kyle

Furious liberals revolt after Trump appointed judge lifts mask mandate: 'Idiot airline'


Some called for a boycott of airlines who don't continue requiring masks


Liberals on social media expressed shock and dismay after a Trump appointed federal judge struck down the federal mask mandate on airplanes that has been in place for two years.  

"When I bought my tickets for me, my wife (who is pregnant), and our unvaccinated 4-year-old, I assumed you would continue to have a mask mandate," Dr. Jeremy Faust tweeted shortly after the mandate was lifted by U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Florida. "Now you cancel it and we will have to board our return flight under your new no mask required policy?! Thanks so much."

Faust went on to accuse United Airlines of "pretty much" saying "it’s cool" if children under five years old who can’t receive the coronavirus vaccine die from the virus on airplanes.












						Furious liberals revolt after Trump appointed judge lifts mask mandate: 'Idiot airline'
					

Liberals on social media expressed shock and dismay after a Trump appointed federal judge struck down the federal mask mandate on airplanes that has been in place for two years.




					www.foxnews.com


----------



## Sneakers

It's a relief from a _mandate_, but there is nothing that says you have to stop wearing a mask if you so desire.  What do they not get about this?

I still see people wearing masks outside, riding bicycles, in cars......  A HUGE false sense of security.


----------



## Kyle

Sneakers said:


> It's a relief from a _mandate_, but there is nothing that says you have to stop wearing a mask if you so desire.  What do they not get about this?
> 
> I still see people wearing masks outside, riding bicycles, in cars......  A HUGE false sense of security.


It's always about THEM making YOU do something.


----------



## rio

I must say, it was great when I was in rural Kansas going out and about I can count on one hand the amount of masks I saw on people for 2 weeks. Even when I was in Kansas City on the plaza there were very few compared to around here.


----------



## Grumpy

rio said:


> I must say, it was great when I was in rural Kansas going out and about I can count on one hand the amount of masks I saw on people for 2 weeks. Even when I was in Kansas City on the plaza there were very few compared to around here.


I don't know for a fact but I believe middle America(other than some major cities) pretty much ignored the mandates.


----------



## GURPS

Kyle said:


> Some called for a boycott of airlines who don't continue requiring masks




Let them drive then


----------



## stgislander

Kyle said:


> Furious liberals revolt after Trump appointed judge lifts mask mandate: 'Idiot airline'
> 
> 
> *Some called for a boycott of airlines who don't continue requiring masks*
> 
> 
> Liberals on social media expressed shock and dismay after a Trump appointed federal judge struck down the federal mask mandate on airplanes that has been in place for two years.
> 
> "When I bought my tickets for me, my wife (who is pregnant), and our unvaccinated 4-year-old, I assumed you would continue to have a mask mandate," Dr. Jeremy Faust tweeted shortly after the mandate was lifted by U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Florida. "Now you cancel it and we will have to board our return flight under your new no mask required policy?! Thanks so much."
> 
> Faust went on to accuse United Airlines of "pretty much" saying "it’s cool" if children under five years old who can’t receive the coronavirus vaccine die from the virus on airplanes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Furious liberals revolt after Trump appointed judge lifts mask mandate: 'Idiot airline'
> 
> 
> Liberals on social media expressed shock and dismay after a Trump appointed federal judge struck down the federal mask mandate on airplanes that has been in place for two years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.foxnews.com


Dear gracious Lord in heaven, please make this so.  This would make my flight to San Diego so much more pleasant. 
Amen


----------



## Sneakers

rio said:


> I must say, it was great when I was in rural Kansas going out and about I can count on one hand the amount of masks I saw on people for 2 weeks. Even when I was in Kansas City on the plaza there were very few compared to around here.





Grumpy said:


> I don't know for a fact but I believe middle America(other than some major cities) pretty much ignored the mandates.


Same way in NorthWest Arkansas.  No masks anywhere, even in the dentist office.


----------



## jazz lady

stgislander said:


> Dear gracious Lord in heaven, please make this so.  This would make my flight to San Diego so much more pleasant.
> Amen
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 163725


Looks like your prayers were answered.


> The Transportation Security Administration will not enforce the mask mandate in light of the recent ruling, according to the White House. This means masks are not required at Reagan National, Dulles International and Baltimore Washington International Airports.











						Federal judge mask mandate ruling: How the DMV is being impacted
					

A federal judge in Florida struck down the national mask mandate covering airlines and other public transportation Monday. So, how does that affect D.C., Maryland and Virginia?




					www.fox5dc.com


----------



## rio

Grumpy said:


> I don't know for a fact but I believe middle America(other than some major cities) pretty much ignored the mandates.


Not at first, but it didn't take them long to say screw it (at least where my family is). And their mandates were never as strict as ours to begin with.


----------



## stgislander

jazz lady said:


> Looks like your prayers were answered.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Federal judge mask mandate ruling: How the DMV is being impacted
> 
> 
> A federal judge in Florida struck down the national mask mandate covering airlines and other public transportation Monday. So, how does that affect D.C., Maryland and Virginia?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.fox5dc.com


Actually, my prayer is for all the splodey head Proglodytes to boycott airlines.


----------



## rio

stgislander said:


> Actually, my prayer is for all the splodey head Proglodytes to boycott airlines.


They could start their own company....call it "Progressive Air...it's not just the air you fly in, it's the air that's not getting to your brain"


----------



## GURPS

Here lies the mask cult: 2020-2022​

Still, the act of donning the cloth remained a humiliating ritual for those of us who believe in human freedom. It served as a reminder of the continuing power of the Safety Regime. Moreover, it reminded us of the countless millions of lives ruined by our government, as these power-drunk actors and propagandists employed COVID Mania defense “measures” purportedly designed to fight a virus. 

The mask is many things. It is a political virtue signal, a sign of obedience, a tool for enhanced compliance, a shaming mechanism, a sign of a superiority/inferiority complex, and a constant reminder of the inhumanity of our ruling class. It had nothing to do with science.

In order for humanity to thrive, the mask cult had to meet its demise.

The airplane was the last stand for the mask cult. And on Monday, a federal judge struck down the CDC’s unconstitutional airplane mask order, which, like virtually everything else related to COVID Mania, was justified by pure quackery. Within hours, every airline in America waived their mask requirement, as did ride share companies like Uber.


----------



## Hijinx

That's fine EricDing-----------aling
I am sure losing your ticket sales will not break them.


----------



## UglyBear

Read the replies.  

I try not to be a bad man, but hearing all the mask cultists keening and crying is giving me some kind of perverse pleasure.  I feel kinky now.


----------



## GURPS

UglyBear said:


> I try not to be a bad man, but hearing all the mask cultists keening and crying is giving me some kind of perverse pleasure. I feel kinky now.




Schadenfreude


----------



## GURPS

Biden on people wearing masks on planes: 'That's up to them'​


----------



## GURPS

Jared's response was: "Hello Victoria, I would love to discuss the incident at your earliest convenience. I was pretty upset about the whole thing. Unfortunately it's satire that only someone at the NYT would believe. In my time of contemplation, I was wondering how your team deals with the multitude of false stories that you peddle out daily to use as political propaganda and if you could give me advice on how to take my satire to the next level? Best wishes."

Kim did end up running a story on Tuesday for _The New York Times_ that catalogued the reactions of airline passengers when hearing they weren't required to wear masks anymore. Her story featured a mother, Brooke Tansley, who claimed to have felt "fear and alarm" about the announcement. The story explained her situation as having "a colleague with a rare autoimmune disease," and concerns of possibly infecting them with COVID-19.










						NYT reporter duped by satirical ‘MAGA airspace’ tweet about end of mask mandate on planes
					

“Unfortunately it’s satire that only someone at the NYT would believe,” responded the prankster when Kim inquired for further comment.




					thepostmillennial.com


----------



## GURPS

Paul Krugman predicts those wearing KN95s will soon be facing harassment and even violence​

Paul Krugman is always wrong. We now know that masking was never about slowing the coronavirus pandemic, it was about control. But Krugman has it the other way around; he claims the debate over masking “was never about freedom.” What was it about, then? Krugman and others are expressing their concerns that now that most mask mandates have been lifted, including the ones governing airplane travel and public transportation, it’s the people who choose to continue to wear a mask who will face harassment and even violence.


----------



## GURPS

Maskaholics got it horribly, horribly wrong… Proof in one chart…​







The pandemic has eased, but not the compulsion of many Americans to cover their faces. Fully vaccinated adults are still wearing masks on their solitary walks outdoors, and officials have been enforcing mask mandates on airline passengers and on some city-dwellers and students. (Though today’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, declaring the Biden administration’s mask mandate for public transportation unlawful, comes as welcome news.) Maskaholics in the press are calling for permanent masking on trains, planes, and buses. High school students in Seattle staged a protest demanding that a mask mandate be reinstated, and psychologists now deal with the anxieties of children who don’t want their classmates to see their faces. They’re suffering from “mask dependency,” as this psychological affliction is termed in Japan, where a long tradition of mask-wearing during flu season has left some individuals afraid at any time to expose their faces in public.


----------



## GURPS

Maskaholics​

The graph tracks the results of a natural experiment that occurred nationwide during the pandemic. Eleven states never mandated masks, while the other 39 states enforced mandates. The mandates typically began early in the pandemic in 2020 and remained until at least the summer of 2021, with some extending into 2022. The black line on the graph shows the weekly rate of Covid cases in all the states with mask mandates that week, while the orange line shows the rate in all the states without mandates.

As you can see from the lines’ similar trajectories, the mask mandates hardly controlled the virus. By the time the mandates were introduced in New York and other states in the spring of 2020 (at the left side of the graph), infections had already been declining in those states, and the mandates didn’t prevent a surge later that year, when cases rose and fell in nearly identical trajectories regardless of states’ mask policies. The pandemic’s second year saw slight deviations in both directions, but those reflected the seasonality of the virus and the geography of mask mandates, which remained more common in northern states. Cases were higher in the non-mandate states last summer, when the seasonal surge in the South disproportionately hit Republican states without mandates, but those states went on to have fewer cases during the winter, when the seasonal surge in the North hit more Democratic states with mandates.

[clip]

*In their pre-Covid planning strategies for a pandemic, neither the Centers for Disease Control nor the World Health Organization had recommended masking the public—for good reason. Randomized clinical trials involving flu viruses had shown, contrary to popular wisdom in Japan and other Asian countries, that there was “no evidence that face masks are effective in reducing transmission,” as the WHO summarized the scientific literature. The pandemic planners at the United Kingdom’s Department of Health had reached a similar conclusion: “In line with the scientific evidence, the Government will not stockpile facemasks for general use in the community.” Anthony Fauci acknowledged this evidence early in the pandemic, both in his public comments (“There’s no reason to be walking around with masks,” he told 60 Minutes) and in his private emails (“I do not recommend you wear a mask,” he told a colleague, explaining that masks were too porous to block the small Covid virus).*

But then Fauci, like the CDC and the WHO, bowed to political expediency and media hysteria. Mandating masks gave the illusion of doing something against the virus. When the initial spring wave in 2020 subsided, public officials and journalists claimed that the mandates had worked, and they kept up the pretense even when Covid surged again later that year despite the continuing mandates. The resurgence was blamed on people disobeying the mandates, never mind the surveys showing widespread compliance.


----------



## GURPS

Jerome Adams plays the ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ card to explain why the judge was wrong to overturn the mask mandate​

Former Trump-era Surgeon General Jerome Adams is not happy that a federal judge overturned the travel mask mandate and he’s using “Schoolhouse Rock” to explain why she made the wrong decision.

The health expert who once told us to turn T-shirts into masks, tweeted:

“Remind me – which schoolhouse rock explains to kids how a single unelected judge has the power to endanger their lives in public settings? I’m just a judge- I’m just a judge, and I’m hurting you cuz I’ve got a grudge…”


----------



## GURPS

Roland Martin dials the masking hysteria up to 11 — and promptly gets busted for major hypocrisy [pics]
					

"You, sir, are a hero."




					twitchy.com


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## GURPS




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## GURPS




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## GURPS

So Philly's Mask Mandate Lasted 4 whole days ..... do you think the City Read The Tea Leaves


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## GURPS

The Maniacal Mask Crisis Tyrants​

We live in a Constitutional Republic and operate based upon the rule of law, our Constitution. Neither the executive nor the judicial branches of our republican form of governance make law. Judge Mizelle has awakened us from this dangerous slumber of believing edicts, orders, mandates, and decrees are equal to law. 

As well, this is not a constitutional monarchy nor do government agencies have enumerated power to rule over us and in turn, regulate away our freedoms and liberties. Government agencies do not rule over the American people, and that means the Center for Disease Control, and Dr. Fauci, have no authority over us. They can make all the recommendations they wish, enabling elected officials to make the best decisions in passing legislation, hence why we have congressional hearings. But they have no power granted to them via the Constitution of these United States of America to mandate or order We the People to do anything.

And the reaction of the left is very telling. If you wish to don a face diaper, go ahead, if I wish not to that is my decision. But what this issue has revealed is that the maniacal mask crisis tyrants are not concerned with "science"...they desire totalitarian control. This is a freedom issue. 

And oh by the way, leftists, you are free to join me six days a week to run anywhere from 3-5 miles and do a calisthenics workout and maintain a healthy lifestyle. If you have specified comorbidities such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and suffer from obesity, you are at a higher risk for the respiratory virus known as Covid...take the requisite precautions. Do not ever mistakenly believe We the People will succumb anymore to mass hysteria and fear mongering by crisis tyrants seeking to usurp out liberties.


----------



## stgislander

I hear that California has instated their own public transportation mask mandate.  I wonder if the pilot will announce over the intercom next week to put on masks as soon as the plane crosses the state line next week.


----------



## Hijinx

stgislander said:


> I hear that California has instated their own public transportation mask mandate.  I wonder if the pilot will announce over the intercom next week to put on masks as soon as the plane crosses the state line next week.


It's Kalifornia Nothing those freaks do surprises me.
Sorrowfully oud democrats in Annapolis are trying to be just as bad.


----------



## GURPS

They’ve enforced mask mandates, outdoor mask mandates, discriminatory vaccine passports, engaged in reckless fear mongering and in the case of Los Angeles, created one of the largest self-owns in covid “history” — LAPublic Health surveyed over 1,500 businesses during a one week period in December 2021 and proclaimed that “high masking compliance” was keeping the region “safe.”

Those aren’t my words, that’s their words:



> Public and business sector masking compliance is high, indicating the broad understanding that this small behavior change adds a layer of protection that enables us to engage in our customary activities without endangering ourselves or others. Public Health regularly conducts site visits to assess mask compliance across a variety of L.A. County businesses, during which we determine compliance among customers, employees and their staff, and overall safety requirements. Out of more than 1500 site visits conducted between December 4th-10th, the vast majority of businesses and industries, including restaurants, bars, food markets and hair salons, had masking compliance rates above 95%.





> “Masking requirements reduce transmission without much disruption to people’s routines and allow businesses to reduce risk for their customers, and workers,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the business community of L.A. County for leading by example on masking as champions for public health. The take home message is clear: masking creates safety for employees and customers, reduces COVID transmission in our communities and helps everyone stay safe here in L.A. County.”



Immediately afterwards, cases skyrocketed more than 20x higher and shattered every previous record:






It’s hard to be more demonstrably wrong than this.

LA public health officials specifically credited the high rate of mask wearing with keeping cases low and residents “safe,” only to see this remarkable compliance prove the uselessness of masks once again.

Of course, there were no press releases from Barbara Ferrer in the months afterwards acknowledging that the demonstrably high rates of mask usage are clearly meaningless, and that based on her own department’s exhaustive site checks, masks provide no “protection” for others.









						Philadelphia and Los Angeles Are the Future of Masking
					

Two of the nation's dumbest cities show how rolling mandates will look




					ianmsc.substack.com


----------



## GURPS

BLM activist in viral mask photo on a plane posted a photo days earlier maskless indoors​


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

If the CDC's Mask Mandate Is 'Necessary for the Public Health,' Why Didn't the DOJ Seek a Stay To Restore It?​
Yet while the Justice Department is now asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to review U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle's ruling against the mask mandate, it did not seek a stay that would allow the CDC to reinstate this supposedly necessary edict while the case is pending. The mandate's supporters say the appeal is aimed not at restoring the mask requirement so much as upholding the CDC's lawful public health authority. The contours of that authority remain nebulous, however, and the version promoted by the agency's defenders is alarmingly broad.

"Basically, [the Biden administration] is giving up on the mask mandate," Georgetown University law professor Lawrence Gostin told _The New York Times_ on Friday. "The administration's goal is a legal principle, which is to ensure that the CDC has strong public health powers to fight COVID and to fight future pandemics. And it appears much less important to them to quickly reinstate the mask mandate."

Gostin, who according to the _Times_ "advised the White House on the case," elaborates on that "legal principle" in a _Times_ opinion piece published today. "Should the federal government have the power to address broad public health emergencies?" Gostin and civil rights lawyer Duncan Hosie write. As they see it, Mizelle "effectively answered no."


----------



## GURPS

22 Countries Drop Mask Mandates as Experts Debate Consequences​Health experts aren’t unanimous on the possible consequences of dropping mask mandates and scaling back COVID-19 preventative measures.

Dr. Shruti Gohil, associate medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention at the University of California–Irvine Medical Center said about mask mandates, “You’ve got to end it sometime.”

With the arrival of the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, some experts feel governments have been hasty in abolishing mask mandates.

Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist at the Queen Mary University of London, says that while the link between COVID-19 cases and severe outcomes has decoupled, the new variants shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“Although some [deaths after a positive test] are incidental, there is a very large proportion that are deaths due to COVID-19. It’s a very concerning situation,” Gurdasani said.


----------



## Hijinx

The biggest joke in this Covid incident is anyone calling themselves and "Expert".

They don't have any idea WTF is going on.


----------



## GURPS

A new U.K. study from Hull York Medical School sampled human lung tissue samples and found thirty-nine kinds of microplastics in 11 of the 13 lung tissue samples of patients scheduled for surgery. That’s 85% of the patients. How could this have happened? It’s an enigma.

*The most commonly found microplastic was polypropylene (23%). The researchers were surprised. They did not mention face masks. But coincidentally, the most common microplastic used in covid face masks is polypropylene.*

Tissue from male donors contained nearly six times the microplastics as did tissue from female donors, and some particles were as large as 1.4 millimeters. Gross.









						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Thursday, May 5, 2022 ☙ FOCUS 🦠
					

We need to focus; a new study finds microplastics in lungs for some reason; another DC super-spreader; Uber ends mask mandates; censorship metastasizes; an op-ed against hesitant evangelicals; more...




					www.coffeeandcovid.com
				






well would have thought wearing masks 8 - 10 hrs a day 5 days a week.


----------



## GURPS

Another new peer-reviewed study dropped April 19th in the Cureus Journal titled, “Correlation Between Mask Compliance and COVID-19 Outcomes in Europe.” It’s not good. It’s actually quite bad.

*Using data from 35 countries and 602 million people, the peer-reviewed study cautions that the use of face masks “may have harmful unintended consequences.” You don’t say.

First, the researchers confirmed a lack of any evidence of efficacy between mask use and infections. “Positive correlation between mask usage and cases was not statistically significant,” the study said.

But, chillingly, it also found that “the correlation between mask usage and deaths was positive and significant (rho = 0.351, p = 0.039).” In other words, the more folks used masks, the higher the death rate went. They tried a variety of different statistical methods but they all showed the same positive correlation between masking and death rates: “none of these [different statistical] tests provided negative correlations between mask usage and cases/deaths.”*

Now, punters will argue that this study only shows CORRELATION and not CAUSATION. But please, don’t make me laugh. You can’t say it is possible that higher death rates cause more masking. People would have to know what the death rates were and we don’t know those until well after the fact, and a LOT of people aren’t paying attention anyway. I suppose it is possible there could be some invisible, unidentified third cause but you can say that about anything.

I suppose the third factor could be mental illness, but nobody wants to hear that.

*Anyway, what we CAN say is there is NO correlation between lower infections and masks, and NO correlation between lower death rates and masking. So what good are they? But there IS a correlation between higher deaths rates and mask use. So there is a good possibility that mask lovers are only hurting themselves, while on the other hand, masks clearly aren’t helping anything.*

How many studies do people need to see in order to start FOLLOWING THE SCIENCE? Or aren’t we doing that anymore? Is it okay to “deny the science” now?










						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Saturday, May 7, 2022 ☙ BRINKSMAN JOE 🦠
					

A new Operation Multiplier; Trump seems disconnected; the 11th Circuit reverses, upholding DeSantis; poorer antibodies in jabbed; super high Guillian-Barré after J&J; lunatic brinksmanship; and more.




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


----------



## TPD

Some medical facilities in St. Mary's County are telling their patients that the mask requirements are coming from my favorite doctor.  If you can get through to someone at my favorite doctor's office to ask questions, you are promptly told the requirement is coming from the state and then immediately hung up on, with no further discussion...  So why are medical establishments still requiring masks?


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## LightRoasted

If I may ...



TPD said:


> Some medical facilities in St. Mary's County are telling their patients that the mask requirements are coming from my favorite doctor.  If you can get through to someone at my favorite doctor's office to ask questions, you are promptly told the requirement is coming from the state and then immediately hung up on, with no further discussion...  *So why are medical establishments still requiring masks*?


Must .... maintain ..... FEAR!   And maniacal power tripping control.


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## GURPS

A new peer-reviewed study on masking just published in the Journal of Infectious Disease:





The researchers tested various kinds of masks to determine their relative viral control efficacy. Their conclusion? That a “quantitatively fit-tested

N95 was the only condition that proved superior to control (no mask).”

In other words, only a PROPERLY FITTED N95 respirator provided any measurable efficacy against viruses compared to NO MASK. They found surgical masks and non-fit-tested N95s were useless, and found even fit-tested N95’s weren’t perfect: “Nasal swabs demonstrated high virus exposure, which was not mitigated by the surgical/N95 masks, although there was a trend for the fit-tested N95 mask to reduce virus counts (p=0.058).”

Gosh. Sadly, this information might have been helpful about eighteen months ago. Moms who live in insane school districts where masks are still required might want to forward that study to somebody.










						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Thursday, May 12, 2022 ☙ CRACKED 🦠
					

A giant crack in the vaccine info dam; another peer-reviewed study shows most masks don't work; Moderna's new CFO lasts ONE DAY; the government probes Elon; Biden boosts Trump; and more...




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


----------



## GURPS

A new May 11th Italian preprint study published on MedRxIV is titled, “Inhaled CO2 concentration while wearing face masks: a pilot study using capnography.”

I bet you’ll never guess what they found. After extensive testing, they found CO2 levels inside masks are perfectly safe and are equivalent to ambient levels outside the mask. Haha, just kidding. The researchers actually confirmed that:



> _Shortly after wearing surgical masks, the inhaled air CO2 approached the highest acceptable exposure threshold recommended for workers, while concerningly high concentrations were recorded in virtually all individuals when wearing [N95] masks. The CO2 concentration was significantly higher among minors and subjects with high respiratory rate._



I’m old enough to remember when some people were saying this two years ago. Too bad, a study like this could have been very helpful back during the mask wars. Narrative 3.0 continues developing, stand by.










						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Friday, May 13, 2022 ☙ OFF RAMPS 🦠
					

Pfizer dumps the 2nd-largest market in the world, or vice-versa; a new CO2 mask study surprises; Psaki on formula; the Twitter deal sputters; Netflix tries to go un-woke; warmongering; and more...




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


----------



## my-thyme

A few times a week on my way to "work", I pass a couple walking. Just the 2 of them, obviously a couple, because......






they are wearing similar masks. 

Now, I'm all for live and let live, and if you're wearing a mask in the store/library/post office, I personally think you're posturing, but I would never say anything to you. I promise I won't even make a noise under my breath or roll my eyes.

But I really wanna punch these two right between the eyes.


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## GURPS

Inhaled CO2 concentration while wearing face masks: a pilot study using capnography​
ABSTRACT​None of the available evaluations of the inhaled air carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, while wearing face masks, used professional, real-time capnography with water-removal tubing. We measured the end-tidal CO2 using professional side-stream capnography, with water-removing tubing (Rad-97™ capnograph), at rest, (1) without masks, (2) wearing a surgical mask, and (3) wearing a FFP2 respirator, in 102 healthy volunteers aged 10-90 years, from the general population of Ferrara province, Italy. The inhaled air CO2 concentration was then computed as: ((mask volume × end-tidal CO2) + ((tidal volume - mask volume) × ambient air CO2)) / tidal volume).

The mean CO2 concentration was 4965±1047 ppm with surgical masks, and 9396±2254 ppm with FFP2 respirators. The proportion of the sample showing a CO2 concentration higher than the 5000 ppm acceptable exposure threshold recommended for workers was 40.2% while wearing surgical masks, 99.0% while wearing FFP2 respirators. The mean blood oxygen saturation remained >96%, and the mean end-tidal CO2 <33 mmHg. Adjusting for age, gender, BMI, and smoking, the inhaled air CO2 concentration significantly increased with increasing respiratory rate (with a mean of 10,143±2782 ppm among the participants taking 18 or more breaths per minute, while wearing FFP2 respirators), and was higher among the minors, who showed a mean CO2 concentration of 12,847±2898 ppm, while wearing FFP2 respirators. If these results will be confirmed, the current guidelines on mask-wearing could be updated to integrate recommendations for slow breathing and a more targeted use when contagion risk is low.


----------



## GURPS

2)*Preliminary report on surgical mask induced deoxygenation during major surgery*

*Abstract*​*“Objectives: *This study was undertaken to evaluate whether the surgeons' oxygen saturation of hemoglobin was affected by the surgical mask or not during major operations.

*Methods: *Repeated measures, longitudinal and prospective observational study was performed on 53 surgeons using a pulse oximeter pre and postoperatively.

*Results: *Our study revealed a decrease in the oxygen saturation of arterial pulsations (SpO2) and a slight increase in pulse rates compared to preoperative values in all surgeon groups. The decrease was more prominent in the surgeons aged over 35.

*Conclusions: *Considering our findings, pulse rates of the surgeon's increase and SpO2 decrease after the first hour. This early change in SpO2 may be either due to the facial mask or the operational stress. Since a very small decrease in saturation at this level, reflects a large decrease in PaO2, our findings may have a clinical value for the health workers and the surgeons.”









						A recent and prior two studies that show facial COVID masks (surgical) are very toxic and dangerous and I warn parents again, these masks do NOT work, ineffective, and are very dangerous to your child
					

Inhaled CO2 concentration while wearing face masks: a pilot study using capnography (Martellucci et al.); Preliminary report on surgical mask induced deoxygenation during major surgery (Beder et al.)




					palexander.substack.com


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## GURPS

Masks, false safety and real dangers, Part 3: Hypoxia, hypercapnia and physiological effects​


MASKS and HYPERCAPNIA​
Do masks cause systemic hypercapnia?​
Airway obstruction is a long recognized cause of retention of carbon dioxide and respiratory acidosis. A sustained level of increased carbon dioxide stays inside of masked air, compared to room air, which in turn sustains a low level of hypercapnia. Rebreathing of exhaled air has been found to quickly elevate [CO2] in available air above 5000 ppm, and to increase arterial CO2 concentration and to increase acidosis.1 The mechanism of mask-induced hypercapnia may also include the moisture on a mask trapping carbon dioxide from exhalation. Some carbon dioxide diffuses in the air, more so if dry, but some portion of it, trapped by water vapor and mask moisture, would form a weak, unstable acid with water, for re-circulation to the airways and lungs. The mechanism is that retention of CO2 causes an increase in PCO2. This is the primary disturbance in respiratory acidosis. It results in an increased concentration of both HCO3- and H+, which is measured as a lower pH.

Masks increase respiratory drive and bronchodilation in mild hypercapnia, from sensitive chemoreceptors picking up changes in pH of cerebrospinal fluid. Ultimately in severe hypercapnia, respiratory drive is actually depressed.

Hypercapnia is widely recognized to be an independent risk factor for death.2 3 4 5 A number of organ systems are negatively impacted, including the brain, heart, lungs, immune system and musculoskeletal system. 6 7

[clip]​
Graph 1​






The blue horizontal line in Graph 1 represents the maximum allowable average CO2 concentration in workspace air during an 8-hour work shift, by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the US Department of Labor.8 The green horizontal line represents typical [CO2] in room air, which is 400 parts per million.

After donning each mask, we see that [CO2] in the masked airspace rose above acceptable OSHA limits within the first 30 seconds.

The concentration of carbon dioxide rises similarly during the time of wearing each kind of mask. These findings are consistent with known data on the carbon dioxide concentration of available airspace inside of a mask.9

Industrial workspace standards established by OSHA for carbon dioxide concentration in the workspace are for ambient room air, and these have been established since 1979. It is not the case that OSHA has mandated specific CO2 concentrations for masked airspace. However, we examine these standards for available room air, and compare masked airspace to them, because in both cases we may consider [CO2] concentration in the air that is available to the airways and the lungs.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

NPR’s masking rules encourage coworkers to rat each other out​
National Public Radio is encouraging staffers to squeal on each other if they do not comply with the company’s Draconian mask-wearing policy in the office.

According to a strongly-worded memo sent out Thursday, NPR employees are not only required to wear masks in the office, but if they see someone who isn’t complying with the mandate, they are encouraged to correct their coworker or rat them out to higher-ups.

“If you notice someone who has forgotten their mask, you might tell them, “Hey, you forgot your mask,” the memo said, adding they can also let a superior know so they can “remind” them or they can get human resources involved. Repeat offenses could lead to the maskless offender getting fired.

The strict policy is a departure from the majority of COVID safety policies in offices and public places across the country. In Washington, DC, where NPR is headquartered, mask mandates in gyms, restaurants and stores were dropped in March. Last month, airports and airlines ditched mask mandates, too.


----------



## GURPS

Setting the table, the Times calls masks a PARADOX: “Dr. Shira Doron, an epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, [said] ‘It is simultaneously true that masks work and mask mandates do not work.’” Got that? Got both conflicting ideas in your head at the same time? Paging George Orwell.

The article points to three examples of bad facts for masking:

1) In U.S. cities where mask use was common, Covid spread at a similar rate as in mask-resistant cities.

2) Mask mandates in schools seem to have done little to reduce the spread.

3) Hong Kong, despite almost universal mask-wearing, recently endured one of the world’s worst Covid outbreaks.

See? THEY KNOW.

*Here’s what the paper came up with to resolve the paradox: “The Covid virus is so contagious that it can spread during brief times when people take off their masks, even when a mandate is in place.” In other words, it’s OUR fault, not masks, since humans need to remove the masks for gross biological functions like eating and drinking.

“Even though masks work, getting millions of people to wear them, and wear them consistently and properly, is a far greater challenge,” one of the Times’ handpicked experts complained.*

But don’t worry, they’re not advocating for using even stricter mandates. At least, not yet. The Times admitted strict mask mandates are “not sustainable for years on end. Masks hinder communication, fog glasses and can be uncomfortable. There is a reason that children and airline passengers have broken out in applause when told they can take off their masks.”

Haha, “children and airline passengers.” See what they did there?

Anyway, the Times rued the fact that masking has become so politicized, dang it. “Democrats are more likely to wear masks than Republicans, and Democrats who identify as ‘very liberal’ are more likely to support mandates.” Because liberalism is about MAKING people do stuff. I’m not sure it started out that way, but conservatives always warned about slip-and-slide liberal paternalism gone wild. I guess this is what it looks like.

*At the end of the day, the Times thinks people should wear masks if they want to: “Anybody who wants to wear a snug, high-quality mask can do so and will be less likely to contract covid. … ‘One-way masking is how we have always used them,’” another expert explained.

“One-way masking,” the remarkable new way to live forever.*











						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Wednesday, June 1, 2022 ☙ SLEEPWALKING 🦠
					

It’s Mask-A-Palooza at C&C, with three new masking stories; pediatric overdoses; Yellen's mistake; and a narrative-shattering opinion piece in the New York Times questions The War.




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


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## GURPS

More than 150 Comparative Studies and Articles on Mask Ineffectiveness and Harms​
My focus is on COVID face masks and the prevailing science that we have had for nearly 20 months. Yet I wish to address this mask topic at a 50,000-foot level on the lockdown restrictive policies in general. I build on the backs of the fine work done by Gupta, Kulldorff, and Bhattacharya on the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) and similar impetus by Dr. Scott Atlas (advisor to POTUS Trump) who, like myself, was a strong proponent for a focused type of protection that was based on an age-risk stratified approach. 

Because we saw very early on that the lockdowns were the single greatest mistake in public health history. We knew the history and knew they would not work. We also knew very early of COVID’s risk stratification. Sadly, our children will bear the catastrophic consequences and not just educationally, of the deeply flawed school closure policy for decades to come (particularly our minority children who were least able to afford this). Many are still pressured to wear masks and punished for not doing so.

I present the masking ‘body of evidence’ below (n=167 studies and pieces of evidence), comprised of comparative effectiveness research as well as related evidence and high-level reporting. To date, the evidence has been stable and clear that masks do not work to control the virus and they can be harmful and especially to children.


----------



## GURPS

Study After Study Confirms Masks Don't Work​
At this point, it’s no longer news that The Experts™ have lied to the public about masks.

It’s been proven time and time again that masks and the mandates enacted by terrified politicians do not work.

And yet, the inaccuracies spread by “experts” and their allies in the media have permanently taken hold for a significant portion of the population.

For example, Taylor Lorenz, Washington Post writer and excellent avatar for the modern (young? middle aged?) urban progressive, remains committed to following their ideology no matter the evidence. She’s continually provided an example of how far down the rabbit hole susceptible people have gone:



At its heart, the debate around masks revolves around ideology.

For years, “experts” decried the importance of masking, quite literally laughing at suggestions that they would make a significant difference:


----------



## GURPS

Professor ripped after trying to mask-shame flight attendant in unhinged Twitter rant​

Attaran’s first tweet posted photos of the United flight attendant without a mask, which is required for all flights out of Canada.

“Hey @united, why are you breaking the law? Masks are required on all flights out of Canada. Your flight attendant isn’t wearing one!” he tweeted as he also included government agencies and Canadian news outlets.

United Airlines, in a tweet, replied, “Hi Amir, thanks for bringing this to our attention. We’ve informed the appropriate teams for further review.”

Later Attaran tweeted that he had a “friendly chat” with the previously unmasked flight attendant, “and found she is blameless because @united misinforms its crew.

“WTF, United? Look here: no flights leaving Canada, masks are mandatory the ‘entire travel journey’. FOLLOW THE LAW!”

The COVID-crazed professor wasn’t done yet.

“United should be forbidden from flying to Canada—immediately,” he tweeted, while tagging the country’s minister of transport. “Our country, our rules. Even the supervisor I talked with in Chicago didn’t understand Canadian rules apply to flights departing Canada.”


----------



## GURPS

COVID masks never ever worked, harmed populations, I published massive reviews; masks are pure utter garbage and junk, new 'Bay area' data shows clearly its ineffective and DOES not work!​


‘The case rate curves for Alameda and Contra Costa counties are near-identical. Because the neighboring counties are similar in so many respects, if masking policy had an impact on pandemic outcomes, one would expect to see some sort of discrepancy in the graph.’ ‘Comparing COVID-19 cases rates in Alameda County, which instituted an indoor mask mandate, and neighboring Contra Costa County, which did not mandate masks indoors.’ Case rates are identical. No difference. In fact, Contra Costa appears lower.

Matches the many papers I have written showing that COVID masks are ineffective and even harmful (More than 150 Comparative Studies and Articles on Mask Ineffectiveness and Harms).

SOURCE (Alameda)






‘The graphs below compare Alameda County’s seven-day average case rate from the past two months to rates in neighboring Contra Costa, Santa Clara and San Francisco counties. Contra Costa and Santa Clara, in particular, are natural comparisons to Alameda, because they have similar vaccination rates and demographic data. San Francisco, on the other side of the bay, provides an additional point of reference. All data comes from the California Department of Public Health.’

‘San Francisco and Santa Clara had higher case rates than Alameda County throughout the current surge, including pre-mask mandate. Once the mandate was introduced, the three counties all followed the same trend line, casting doubt on whether the mask mandate did anything to curb transmission at the community level.’

“Mask mandates may create a false sense of reassurance to those who truly need the extra protection,” Noble said in April. “The severely immunocompromised person … should be using an N95 in crowded spaces when viral prevalence is high. They should not opt for a cloth or surgical mask because other people around them are masked and therefore assume it is 'safe enough' to avoid the tight fitting and uncomfortable N95.”


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## GURPS

If Masks Work, Why Didn't We Plan to Use Them?​

For many in today’s world, “believe in science” has become a quasi-religious mantra. Masks are the rosary beads, Fauci is the pope, the CDC is the Church, the World Health Organization is Vatican City, and guidance from both organizations is the Bible. Think I’m exaggerating? Just look at what happened with corporations and Governors after the CDC adjusted their mask guidance for vaccinated people less than a month ago. Word went out, and the rules immediately changed. “The Church (CDC) has decreed that rosary beads (masks) are no longer necessary for the truly blessed, the Pope (Fauci) has concurred with their ruling and so in accordance we are changing our laws,” they might have said.

With that in mind, it’s a wonder that with the religious appeals to “science,” as determined by the CDC and the WHO, those in media and in positions of political authority have spent so little time examining what their guidance, the Bible of the scientific religion, said before COVID-mania took over in early 2020.

If the guidance of the CDC is akin to gospel, this should be extremely relevant, right? Politicians make every decision based and the media determines who’s right or who’s a “denier” based on their proclamations. So what did they say in their pandemic planning about masks?

Well below is a section from a CDC-led telebriefing update from February 26, 2020 on their mitigation guidelines:



> To illustrate how this works, I’d like to share with you some of the specific recommendations made in the document I mentioned last Friday including some of the steps we would take here if needed.  This document is called Community Mitigation Guidelines to Prevent Pandemic Influenza United States 2017.  It draws from the findings of nearly 200 journal articles written between 1990 and 2016.  This document looked at what can be done at the individual and community level during a pandemic when we don’t have a vaccine or proven medical treatment for the disease.  We’re looking at data since 2016 and adjusting our recommendations to the specific circumstances of COVID-19.  But this posted document provides a frame work for our response strategy.  Based on what is known now, we would implement these NPI measures in a very aggressive, proactive way as he have been doing with our containment efforts.
> Personal NPIs which include personal protective measures you can take every day and personal protective measures reserved for pandemics.
> Personal protective measures reserved for pandemics include voluntary home quarantine of household members who have been exposed to someone they live with who is sick.
> CDC and other federal agencies have been practicing for this since the 2019 influenza pandemic.  In the last two years, CDC has engaged in two pandemic influenza exercises that have required us to prepare for a severe pandemic and just this past year we had a whole of government exercise practicing similarly around a pandemic of influenza.












						If Masks Work, Why Didn't We Plan to Use Them?
					

Pre-pandemic planning and the evolution of Religion




					ianmsc.substack.com


----------



## GURPS

But the case to mask children has always been significantly worse.

Even Professor Francois Balloux, a self-described COVID “centrist,” who is rarely prone to extreme declarations or hyperbole, admitted recently that the masking of young children is “the most bizarre public health policy ever:”





There is obviously a tremendous amount of research and data proving that mask mandates are ineffective, especially in schools:

https://ianmsc.substack.com/p/school-masking-is-completely-unsupported


Yet the policy continues in many parts of the country.

Just recently, a number of locations in California brought back forced school masking:






But a new study out provides some important new evidence with regards to the efficacy of mask mandates.


The Study Design​The study authors included several credentialed experts like Tracy Høeg and USC’s Neeraj Sood, along with one extremely qualified data analyst, Josh Stevenson.

You may know Josh from his fantastic work on Twitter as well as Substack, and this study could very well be his most important contribution yet.

Their detailed examination of North Dakota has created more advanced academic level research similar to the data comparisons that I and many others have shared.

The introduction explains the methodology and goals:



> School districts across the nation have implemented mask mandates for children in the hope of reducing COVID-19 transmission, but the impact of school-based mask mandates on COVID-19 transmission in children is not fully established. While observational studies of school mask mandates have had conflicting results, randomized studies have failed to detect an impact of masking on participants under 50 years of age [1-6]. Here we report the results of a natural experiment in two large K-12 school districts in Fargo, North Dakota, Fargo Public Schools (FPS) and West Fargo Public Schools (WF), to estimate the association between school mask mandates and COVID-19 infections. Our study population is unique because the districts are adjacent to each other in the same county and have similar student demographics, COVID-19 mitigation policies and staff vaccination rates. At the start of the Fall 2021 semester, FPS mandated masks and WF did not. On January 17, 2022, FPS also moved to a mask optional policy, creating a unique natural experiment to study school-based mask mandates.



While not a purely randomized controlled trial, this is about as good of a natural experiment as you’re going to get.









						A Very Important New Study on School Masking Has Been Released
					

With a fantastic set of authors




					ianmsc.substack.com


----------



## GURPS

This bitch Tedros, WHO chief: 'bring back face masks' as Covid pandemic 'nowhere near over'; WHO director-general Tedros urged governments to bring back measures as the pandemic is 'nowhere near over'​

*WHO chief urges 'bring back face masks' as Covid pandemic 'nowhere near over'*

Do not be surprised if these bitches move to lock us down again. This is where we hold them and say Phuck NO! Does this beast not know the clear evidence that the masks never worked and will never work for this respiratory virus.

More than 150 Comparative Studies and Articles on Mask Ineffectiveness and Harms


This untermensche, this devil at WHO. This beast, this bitch at WHO and many like him in our government alphabet government agencies like Jha and Walensky, know full well that it is the non-neutralizing vaccine that is placing sub-optimal immune pressure on the spike protein, and driving emergence of the variants and expanding the pandemic, so much so that this bitch knows and others like Fauci, that the pandemic will last 100 more years if this continues. This is deliberate.

Maybe I will share with this beast Tedros, a few studies that should inform the dolt, the inept corrupted WHO dolt, of the science he should have been aware of:


1)Liu et al.: *An infectivity-enhancing site on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein targeted by antibodies*


2)*Yahi et al.:* *Infection-enhancing anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies recognize both the original Wuhan/D614G strain and Delta variants. A potential risk for mass vaccination?*


3)*Van Egeren et al.: “Risk of rapid evolutionary escape from biomedical interventions targeting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein”*


4)Lempp et al.: *Lectins enhance SARS-CoV-2 infection and influence neutralizing antibodies*


5)Asarnow et al.: *Structural insight into SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies and modulation of syncytia*


6)Martin et al.: *The emergence and ongoing convergent evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 N501Y lineages*


7)Hoffmann et al.: *The Omicron variant is highly resistant against antibody-mediated neutralization: Implications for control of the COVID-19 pandemic*


8)Kimura et al.: *Virological characteristics of the novel SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants including BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5*


----------



## GURPS

the mask karens are back​






what dr amy is really saying:


_*i am anxious and manage it poorly through performative action.*_
_*i want to wear masks but fear social disapproval more.*_
_*i want "authorities" force others to share my superstitious observances so that i can mitigate my fear without risk of censure or of appearing low status.*_
this is the nasty trap of the anxiety-raddled:

they want to act in certain ways to assuage their apprehension, but to do so invites scrutiny, disapproval, and ridicule. and they fear that more than the germs.

this is an illness.

worse, it’s a social zugzwang.

all the moves are losers for you.

and so you seek to change the board.

her requests are so very telling because the way to have your anxiety cake and eat it too is to force all the others to behave as you do and thus alleviate the stigma of public wubbie clutching.

note the language:

_*“the desire not to stick out is psychologically powerful.”

“make it easy for everyone.”*_

what she is really saying is “i don’t care what you want or if i can convince you. i demand to sacrifice your freedom and agency to make it easy for me. *your liberty ends where my anxiety begins*.”

yowza.

accommodating this is not courage.

it's enabling an addict.

“pronouns in bio” remains basically undefeated as a predictor of “what follows is likely to be badly calibrated” but it looks to me like “pronouns in actual name” may trump even that august indicator.


----------



## Hijinx

Go to the hospital, go to your Doctors office, see what they are wearing.
They aren't wearing N-95's. They are just wearing the paper masks that we all were forced to wear.

They know these masks are useless , but they have to breath, and the N-95's if you wore them all day your O2 level would be down to 80.


----------



## GURPS

She said online school or withdrawal from school are the only other choices for children who don’t want to wear masks. SDUSD originally lifted its mask mandate in April.

“For the fall, there are some options,” the school board president continued. “They can go to our school that’s online and they can opt not to return to the regular school, but go to the school where they don’t have to go to school at all other than via Zoom.”

Though the district didn’t clarify whether these rules would be in place for the fall semester, Whitehurst-Payne says the mandates would remain in effect if the community is still in the moderate tier of risk set by the CDC. 

Previously, the school board president had sung the praises of N95 masks for kids, claiming “they feel better than the others, you can talk and breathe in them.”

Other local areas are reinstating mask mandates as well, per ABC News. Naval Base Coronado and Naval Base San Diego both announced on social media that mask mandates would go into effect Monday as well. 










						‘They Can Opt Not To Return’: San Diego School Board President Speaks On Return Of Mask Mandates For Kids | The Daily Wire
					






					www.dailywire.com


----------



## GURPS

The Predicted Return to Mask Mandates Is Underway​


There apparently is no amount of evidence or data that will convince committed pro-masking fanatics to permanently abandon their faith.

But it’s even more absurd considering that several countries where mask mandates are still in effect, or where universal masking compliance is still commonplace, have been experiencing dramatic, remarkable surges.

The evidence from 2020 wasn’t enough. The Delta and Omicron surges in 2021 also weren’t enough. You’d be wrong again if you believed another surge in 2022 would be enough.

While many states or countries have moved past the pandemic, those desperate to keep it going are ignoring the reality currently unfolding across the world right in front of their eyes.

*Los Angeles*

It’s been covered before, but it bears repeating that Los Angeles already provided one of the clearest data points that masking and mask mandates are completely ineffective.

When the public health department did spot checks in December 2021 to measure compliance, they found that over 95% of employees and customers at over 1,500 businesses were wearing masks.

Cases in the county immediately exploded, breaking records and reaching more than doubling the winter surge of 2020-2021:





You’d think that would be enough to permanently end the city’s commitment to masking, but you’d, of course, be wrong.

The city recently reached the CDC’s “high transmission” level, which is a created metric based on entirely arbitrary criteria.

While the overwhelming majority of the U.S. has long since concluded that the CDC’s recommendations are probably best disregarded, Los Angeles has tied their mask mandates to the utterly meaningless guidelines.

And so, after just a few months of blissful, mostly maskless existence, the city will almost inevitably head back to forced masking in just a matter of days.

What’s also infuriating about LA’s devotion to mitigation fiction is that a month and a half after the mandate was lifted, cases remained low:





This is another key point that’s not made often enough.

It’s not just that mask mandates do not prevent cases from rising or stop surges in their tracks, but lifting mask mandates also makes no difference whatsoever.

LA ended theirs and cases didn’t surge. As was the case with Texas in March 2021, after Joe Biden called lifting mandates “Neanderthal thinking.”

This has happened over and over and over again, and yet the myth of masking persists.











						The Return to Mask Mandates Is Underway
					

The push to rush back to what we know doesn't work




					ianmsc.substack.com


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## GURPS

Kentucky's largest school district requires masks regardless of vaccination status​


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## GURPS

Last week, LA County announced that it would re-impose its hated indoor mask mandate. Then LA County folks mobilized. So yesterday, LA County’s Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer abruptly RESCINDED the brand new mask mandate, citing “falling” covid cases. How quickly things change inside of a week here in Post Pandemia!

In one widely-shared video clip, a reporter pressed Health Director Ferrer on whether the covid data REALLY changed that fast, or maybe, was public outcry the REAL cause of the reversal? It went like this:

REPORTER: What percentage of your decision was based on the statistics you’ve cited, and what percentage was based on public reaction against universal indoor masking?

FERRER: Well, I’m not sure there’s a percentage here. We made our decision based on the data. <long pause> I think that’s, that’s probably the best answer.

Well that’s clear. She’s not sure there’s a percentage. She made the decision based on the data. The data that a lot of people were bonkers furious about the face diapers! Nice try.

We MUST cut masking off everywhere it pokes out its revolting little head. Masks are the government’s gateway drug to all the other mandates. So, great work LA County team, and keep it up people — it’s working.










						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Friday, July 29, 2022 ☙ UN-KNOWN 🦠
					

LA County backtracks on masks; Florida goes after drags shows for kids; it's up to five Toronto areas docs dead from SADS in one week; a new mysterious leading cause of death in Alberta; and more...




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


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## GURPS

Lawmakers Contested on Reinstating Indoor Mask Mandates​
Headline Roundup July 31st, 2022​Lawmakers have been contested on *whether to reinstate indoor mask mandates*.

Over 60% of Americans are currently residing in counties that entered the "high" category of COVID-19 cases where the CDC recommends masking in indoor settings for all people regardless of vaccination status, according to data posted by the public health organization. Several cities and counties, including Los Angeles, have avoided enforcing indoor mask mandates. LA County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer on Wednesday paused the implementation of universal masking due to a "a fairly steady decline" of cases and hospitalization rates, indicating that the numbers are *"potentially signaling to an end" of the latest surge caused by the BA.5 variant*. On the other hand, San Diego Unified School District started reinforing indoor mask mandates amid an uptick of COVID cases during summer school sessions.

*Left-rated coverage *highlighted public health officials' "concern" that Americans have returned to their normal lives "without a second thought" of pandemic restrictions or the "surge" in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations being detected in some areas.

*Right-rated outlets *accentuated a downtick in COVID-19 cases and spotlighted critics who accused Ferrer of "lying to the public" about the virus.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

The Abstract​​What’s remarkable about this review is that the authors discredit their own work almost immediately.

The poor quality writing is readily apparent, both from their repeated phrasing of “facemasks” as one word, and the fact that of 1,732 studies considered for inclusion, only 13 actually met the criteria.

That’s correct, a mere 0.75% of the studies they apparently examined were actually used to generate their conclusions.

So how many people did this substantial, important, influential, seminal work actually cover?



> Facemasks have become a symbol of disease prevention in the context of COVID-19; yet, there still exists a paucity of collected scientific evidence surrounding their epidemiological efficacy in the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. This systematic review sought to analyze the efficacy of facemasks, regardless of type, on the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in both healthcare and community settings. The initial review yielded 1732 studies, which were reviewed by three study team members. Sixty-one full text studies were found to meet entry criteria, and 13 studies yielded data that was used in the final analysis. *In all, 243 subjects were infected with COVID-19*, of whom 97 had been wearing masks and 146 had not. The probability of getting COVID-19 for mask wearers was 7% (97/1463, p=0.002), for non-mask wearers, probability was 52% (158/303, p=0.94). The Relative Risk of getting COVID-19 for mask wearers was 0.13 (95% CI: 0.10-0.16). Based on these results, we determined that across healthcare and community settings, those who wore masks were less likely to contact COVID-19. Future investigations are warranted as more information becomes available.



243 people.

Yeah, 243. There have been 583,211,225 reported COVID cases in the world to date, with many millions more undetected, and this evidence review covered 243 of them.

A comparison between the two numbers illustrates the absurdity of suggesting that 243 is a remotely representative sample:






Beyond the incomprehensibly small sample size used to generate these percentages, the most absurd part of their conclusion was ignoring that inescapable reality that everyone will get COVID.

There can be no reduction in likelihood of getting COVID from mask wearing because everyone will eventually get COVID. The absolute reduction is 0. The relative reduction is 0. End of study.

Of course, that’s not at all what happened in this instance, and the details make it look even worse.

The “Evidence”​​The studies they collected to include in their “evidence” review were a combination of embarrassingly bad to unbelievably useless.

But before going into the studies they collected, it’s worth pointing out that the conclusions conflated healthcare and community settings.



> Sixty-one full text studies were found to meet the criteria, and 13 studies were used in the final analysis. (Figure 1) Frequencies, relative risk, confidence intervals and t-tests were calculated where appropriate, to measure differences between groups who reported wearing masks vs. not wearing masks for the overall study group, *as well as health care, and community settings.*


It’s the height of absurdity to compare the two while pretending that your results are some kind of definitive, universally applicable data driven exercise.

But the studies included are where it gets extremely bad.

One of them, in an evidence review designed to supposedly determine the effectiveness of mask wearing to prevent COVID, was conducted in 2004.

Yes, you read that correctly. 2004.




To no one’s surprise, there were no COVID infections in 2004 in Thailand when a full PPE policy was in place.

Better yet, they decided that the CDC’s embarrassing attempt at science, the infamous hairdresser study, should qualify for this exercise:





The audacity of including a study from 2004 and presenting two hairstylists as some kind of useful evidence should be immediately disqualifying.

Although based on their demonstrated standards, it’s no surprise that only testing half of the supposedly “exposed” individuals was enough to meet the criteria for entry.

It gets better.

Another study included used such high quality methods as asking long term care facilities to fill out a questionnaire describing their compliance with “preventative measures:”





How is it possible that not one person involved in this examination stopped to wonder if a questionnaire such as this could be prone to bias, especially in July 2020 at the height of COVID panic when masking suddenly became the single most important intervention to stop the spread of the virus.

Shockingly, several poorly designed studies from China were included that demonstrated the benefits of mask wearing, with one example apparently using “social network analysis.”

As pointed out on Twitter, one included piece of “evidence” had nothing to do with mask wearing at all:











You can clearly see the relevance of a paper on protection provided by gas masks while performing a tracheotomy is to preventing the spread of COVID.

It’s notable that the evidence review references two charter flight studies, although as mentioned in the tweet, this had nothing to do with a charter flight.

What appears to have happened is that the authors copy-pasted the same explanation onto two different studies. It’s easy to see how thorough and well considered their work was; not at all sloppy or shoddy.

Not to mention that the actual charter flight examination involved 11 people _who were all wearing masks_.

It’s impossible to judge how effective masks are or aren’t, when you’re not comparing to people who aren’t wearing masks.

Absolutely ludicrous.

Also ludicrous is the fact that there are literally zero included studies after July 2020.

They also lumped together community examinations with individual ones.

From every possible angle, this is a disgraceful, demonstrably incompetent attempt to promote masking, with zero merit.

So it’s been ignored by “experts” and other prominent media figures, right?


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

Pennsylvania Woman Arrested at Doctor’s Office, Declined Care Over Refusal to Wear a Face Mask​
Trauma Survivor​At age 5, Barton was playing with other little girls near the train tracks in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, when a large group of teenage boys came upon the girls, separated them, and assaulted them.

They threw Barton down on her back in the dirt. Two boys held her legs, and another sat on her waist and held her down at the elbows.

Barton recalls how they put their fingers down her throat and smashed dirt in her face, up her nose, and in her ears. They stepped on her face, then flipped her over and rubbed her face in the dirt.

She recalls how she couldn’t breathe and thought she was going to die. There was a police report at the time. After that, her parents moved out of the neighborhood to get away from the scene of the crime.

The attack left an imprint in Barton’s mind to always protect her face.

She has discomfort when she’s pulling a shirt over her head and it takes too long to slip past her face. Turtlenecks are out of the question because they are too restrictive. She never wore a Halloween mask, and before sleeping, she makes sure the blanket is clear from her face.

She has sought counseling through the years but still guards her face and avoids situations that would require her to cover it. Once COVID-19 mask requirements were implemented, she stayed home, except to see the doctor.

Accommodations for Trauma Survivors​Trauma-informed care is not a new concept.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration published a 2014 booklet, titled “SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach.”

It describes a trauma-informed approach to care, including ensuring that individuals feel physically and psychologically safe, share in decision making about their care, are able to self-advocate, and are offered service that is healing and responsive to their traumatic experiences.

The Epoch Times asked Penn Medicine to describe its current masking policy and any trauma-informed services for survivors of rape, child abuse, and other trauma. Penn Medicine did not respond.

But the regional health care provider is not unfamiliar with trauma-informed care, and it trains others on how to care for trauma victims.

Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health offered a 2019 community training titled, “Trauma 101: Understanding Trauma, Resilience and Trauma Informed Care.”

A July 19, 2021, press release announced that the City of Lancaster and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health jointly received a $300,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency “to Build a trauma informed Lancaster City.”

The grant was for Penn Medicine to train community groups using a dedicated Lancaster City trauma-informed training specialist.

“A trauma informed community strives to do no harm and recognizes past and ongoing traumas such as historic and structural racism, exclusion, isolation and the chronic, daily stressors of concentrated poverty and exposure to community violence,” the Penn Medicine press release said.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

School districts sour on mask mandates amid legal scrutiny, research questioning safety, efficacy​

Los Angeles County backtracked on reinstating its mandate after several cities said they wouldn't comply, acknowledging COVID-19 hospitalizations were not dire. Weeks earlier, a county judge invalidated Los Angeles Unified School District's COVID vaccine mandate, saying it was preempted by state law and lacks required personal-belief exemptions.

Rhode Island is trying to get out of a lawsuit against its school mask mandate, which expired in March, but not before a public health official revealed he was unfamiliar with research that questioned the tradeoffs of masks, even in his own field.

While Judge Jeffrey Lanphear declined to impose a preliminary injunction last fall, he found that the plaintiffs' children were suffering "irreparable harm" from the mandate. He warned the Department of Health to "tread carefully in promulgating new regulations or extending any existing regulations" and not to expect "a bottomless pit of deference in the future."

James McDonald, interim director of the Department of Health until June, testified in a July deposition that his May 20 memorandum did not impose a conditional mask mandate but simply reflected CDC guidance. He told parents that infected students who don't wear masks "must" isolate for 10 days, twice as long as masked infected students.


----------



## GURPS

The LA Daily News ran a shocking story Friday headlined, “Mask Mandate Didn’t Work Against Covid-19 In LA, Say Doctors From USC and UCLA.”

The article reports:



> A letter from top-level doctors and researchers arguing against the effectiveness of indoor mask mandates, along with pushback from health departments, cities and business groups, possibly played a role in a surprise decision not to re-institute the mandate in Los Angeles County last month.​



Not JUST doctors. “Top-level doctors.” Did you ever think you’d see the day? How long have we waited for THIS turnaround?

The LA Daily described what was in the letter:



> The letter from the group of doctors cites the county’s statistics, and studies in Europe and some U.S. states, showing that after mask mandates were imposed, transmission of COVID-19 did not slow down. It contends that vaccines and boosters, plus immunity from those who’ve been infected, form a safeguard against high levels of serious illness, and that masks are not necessary in mid-2022, unlike during early stages of the pandemic.​



Oh. So, they’re not yet admitting that masks were NEVER needed. Masks just never made any difference. Uh huh. Nuance, people. Nuance!

LA County’s pallid public health director Barbara Ferrer, who ironically looks a lot like death warmed over, announced a brand new mask mandate last month — but then immediately backed down and reversed herself, coincidentally after some of the same “top-level doctors” published an anti-mask op-ed in the Orange County register.

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch...a21e-ad1b-41bf-9e1c-fa127ae65f5d_1120x338.png
The docs’ letter, recently obtained by the paper through public records requests, was sent to Ferrer back in February.

According to the Epoch Times, city officials in Torrance, California, passed a vote of no confidence last week against Ms. Ferrer, saying the restrictions she imposed during the pandemic violated people’s freedom and hurt businesses.

So. The wheels keep on slowly turning.











						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Tuesday, August 16, 2022 ☙ PUPPY POX 🦠
					

Lots more Biden Raid news; a missing affidavit; Trump’s stolen passports and attorney letters; hot takes; justice makes slow progress; Canadian doctor wipeout; celebrity breakthrough cases; & more...




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


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## GURPS




----------



## TPD

And yet PG County Public Schools will require masks when they return. Dumb!


----------



## GURPS

My daughter is cussing already


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

YouTube Appears To Update Policy Banning Claims That Masks Don’t Stop The Spread Of COVID​


----------



## GURPS

Experts Are Lying About Schools to Protect Themselves​

Peter Hotez is not an intellectually honest person.

He’s also not a legitimate “expert,” in the sense that most people should think of the word.

In theory, expertise should involve a qualified individual who puts aside their personal feelings in an attempt to reach the most accurate conclusion based on the facts, data and evidence.

That’s the goal anyway.

[clip]

He also criticized the White House for wanting to open schools without putting in “the hard work and the time to make this happen.”

https://twitter.com/PeterHotez/status/1282313339885035521

Because Hotez is a political activist first and foremost, his definition of “hard work” to open schools would be to ignore the accumulating evidence that mask mandates did not work, that schools were safer than the surrounding communities, and that the overwhelming majority of people would get COVID regardless of “precautions.”

Schools, in his opinion, couldn’t open without strict restrictions that would not work, but could harm students ability to learn normally.

It gets even worse.

In this outrageous tweet, he publicizes an interview with The Atlantic where he says “this push to open schools is guaranteed to fail:”





Not might fail, could fail, _guaranteed_ to fail.

“Teachers will become ill.” “Everything will shut down.”

Of course, that was almost immediately proven catastrophically incorrect.

Schools in Florida were open and remained open throughout the fall and winter of 2020-2021, despite surges in community transmission of COVID.

Surges that occurred, naturally, with mask mandates in place for many counties throughout the state.


----------



## Sneakers

OR...

most already have natural immunity and it will be no worse than a few colds.


----------



## GURPS

Not Masking Is Now Racist Because (Fill in the Blank)​

These days, we can’t go a day without learning that something new is “racist.”

Math is racist. Voter ID is racist. Signature requirements are racist. Even recessions are racist.

And now you’re racist if you aren’t wearing a mask in public because of COVID-19.

Mara Gay, a member of the editorial board of _The New York Times,_ appeared on MSNBC’s _Morning Joe _on Thursday and declared that wearing a mask is still “an act of solidarity and respect, not only for people with certain health vulnerabilities, but also for racial minorities.”

How did she get there? Don’t ask.

“Yeah, you know, I think it is an important moment to recognize, everybody is weary, but the impact has not been equal across the American population or the world and so I just want to say, you know, a virus does not a pandemic make,” she explained.

So, what makes this a pandemic, according to Gay? That “a thousand Americans are still dying from this virus. It is not the flu and also, many, many more, unfortunately, are coming down with symptoms of long COVID, which has become endemic and anybody is susceptible to.”


----------



## GURPS

"CDC no longer recommends universal masking in health facilities"​


*CDC no longer recommends universal masking in health facilities*

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends universal masking in health care settings, unless the facilities are in areas of high COVID-19 transmission.

The agency quietly issued the updates as part of an overhaul to its infection control guidance for health workers published late Friday afternoon. It marks a major departure from the agency’s previous recommendation for universal masking.”

SOURCE:

https://brownstone.org/articles/mor...d-articles-on-mask-ineffectiveness-and-harms/


----------



## TPD

GURPS said:


> "CDC no longer recommends universal masking in health facilities"​
> 
> 
> *CDC no longer recommends universal masking in health facilities*
> 
> “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends universal masking in health care settings, unless the facilities are in areas of high COVID-19 transmission.
> 
> The agency quietly issued the updates as part of an overhaul to its infection control guidance for health workers published late Friday afternoon. It marks a major departure from the agency’s previous recommendation for universal masking.”
> 
> SOURCE:
> 
> https://brownstone.org/articles/mor...d-articles-on-mask-ineffectiveness-and-harms/


And how long before our doctors and hospitals allow us to remove the face diaper?


----------



## rio

TPD said:


> And how long before our doctors and hospitals allow us to remove the face diaper?


I was thinking the same thing...especially since some places are still doing temp checks just to enter the building.  I still see people alone in their cars wearing masks. It boggles my mind!


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## GURPS

Experts Say ‘Flawed’ Study Used to Justify Mask Mandate, $3 Million in Fines Levied at Church​

In a deposition in August, Dr. Sara Cody, the county’s public health officer, was asked about studies she relied on regarding COVID-19 policies.

“I can remember a particular study around masking evidence that was a large study in Bangladesh that had cases—it was a large retrospective cohort study that demonstrated the efficacy of community-wide masking. I can’t remember exactly where it was published. It was not published by the CDC [the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention],” she said.

Dr. Robert Malone, an internationally recognized scientist and physician who has conducted key research on mRNA vaccines, told the Epoch Times that while Cody is highly credentialed, “she is citing as justification for action a very flawed study that actually proves if anything, that the masks don’t work, when you actually look at the data.”

Norman Fenton, a mathematician and risk information management professor at Queen Mary University of London, also said the Bangladesh study doesn’t hold up to rigorous analysis and doesn’t prove masks work.

“There was no discernible effect of the mask intervention on covid infection,” he concluded.

In his paper from May, Fenton states the news media grossly exaggerated the authors’ conclusions in the Bangladesh study, and that skeptical researchers have identified weaknesses in various aspects of the trial and statistical analysis, thus casting doubt on the significance of the results.

A more recent re-analysis published on Sept. 15 provides additional “damning critique” of the Bangladesh study, Fenton said in an email to The Epoch Times. The re-analysis, led by University of California–Berkeley professor Benjamin Recht, found masks had a “modest or no direct effect on COVID-related outcomes.”


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## GURPS

Mask Mandates Continue 'Indefinitely' Even After CDC Starts to Admit Defeat​

Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts is perhaps the best example of this phenomenon, where mask mandates within the school have proven completely useless at prevent the spread of COVID. Which, of course, means that they must continue.

An open letter written by the college’s president, Beverly Daniel Tatum perfectly summarized the remarkable lack of logic required to continue masking:

“I am sorry to say that because of the relatively high confirmed COVID-19 case counts on campus (approximately 50 per week since the start of the semester) we will need to continue our indoor mask mandate until further notice.”
How remarkable is that?

The president explains that their current mask mandate has been unable to stop a “relatively high” amount of “confirmed COVID-19 case counts” on campus, and so they’ll need to continue doing it.

The less it works, the more we need it.

It’s a wonderful distillation of the inherent absurdities among pro-masking groups, exemplified by the cowardice, incompetence and lack of critical thinking now inherent amongst college administrators.

Masks aren’t working to stop the rapid spread of the virus, so we need to continue masking. How can these policies ever end with nonsensical thinking like this?

Supposedly COVID cases on campus have, according to the letter, “taxed our campus health care system and residential services to the limit.”

How can this be happening?

We know that college students are at incredibly low risk of serious complications from COVID, not to mention that Mt. Holyoke College, as committed members of the anti-science wing of the left, mandated COVID vaccines for everyone at the school last year.

It’s confusing that COVID cases have “taxed” their campus health care system to the limit, when everyone that works at the college is vaccinated and everyone who attends the college is vaccinated.

Oh, and they’re boosted too.


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## GURPS

'Ontario’s top doctor (Kieran Moore) urges mask wearing, warns mandate could return'​

Of course the vaccine uptake is low, the people have figured out the fraud you idiot! They know of people re-infected and severely harmed post vax and dying.

Who cares if its is not acceptable to you Kieran, ‘up yours’.

Who stole, is it the Premier Ford who stole the COVID money in Ontario, is it the MPPs? Or the insiders in the legislature? Is it the lobbyists? Is it the CEOs of hospitals in Ontario or the crooked inept medical doctors themselves who denied early treatment and caused thousands of their patients to die? Someone stole the PPE COVID relief money for now this dimwit knucklehead moron Moore is saying ‘the approach of winter could further jeopardize the province’s struggling health-care system’; I need to ask nutball Moore, where is the money, for you got billions to gear up the hospitals so they are geared up, so it is either you are lying about ‘struggling strained’ system, or you could tell us the tax payers who took the money and bought houses and stashed it away.


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## GURPS

Boston School Masking Study is an Embarrassment to Science​

There are numerous, granular level details that the researchers got wrong, but we can see another clearly identifiable manipulation of the data.

The study attempted to determine if removing mask mandate policies in school districts in Massachusetts resulted in different outcomes.

In essence, they took the school districts that lifted mandates and compared them to those that kept mandates in place. They then claimed their results showed that masking led to decreased rates of COVID spread.

Except they ignored one extremely important policy difference.

There were significantly different testing requirements between the two cohorts.

Not only did they ignore this difference, they lied about it.

Here is the text, directly from the Massachusetts Department of Education memo for “health protocols:”


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## GURPS

Public Health is Trying to Force People Back Into Masks​

Just when you thought it was over, masks are back.

Well, to be fair, it’ll never be over for many far-left areas of the country like Los Angeles.

Despite the fact that masks do not work to prevent the spread of COVID, LA wants to bring them back.

ABC 7 in Los Angeles posted that the county is changing their recommendations due to ”sharply rising” infection rates.

While falling short of a mandate, this severe overreaction is an indication that the county will inevitably return to mandates shortly.

This ”strong” recommendation also comes despite the fact that Los Angeles data repeatedly proves that masks don’t work.

In December 2021, public health officials conducted spot mask compliance checks across the county. They found that over 95% of businesses and customers were complying with the mandate.

Cases immediately skyrocketed to record-breaking heights regardless.


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## TPD

haha fat chance I'm gonna wear one.  Still can't believe local hospitals/dr offices/urgent cares are still requiring them with the information and research we now have showing they don't work in slowing or stopping infection.


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## GURPS

New Study Disproves Expert Messaging on 'High Quality' Masks​

The Annals of Internal Medicine just published a randomized controlled trial comparing the ability of medical masks to prevent COVID infection to fit-tested N95’s.

Importantly, this trial was conducted on healthcare workers who would be most likely to use masks appropriately.

That trial design was also important as it was meant to determine whether or not N95 respirators were superior to “regular” surgical masks.

They examined 29 different health care facilities on multiple continents, from North America to Asia and Africa.

The percentage of healthcare workers testing positive for COVID in each group was tracked to determine how effective or ineffective higher quality masking was in preventing infection.

Unsurprisingly, the results confirmed that there is essentially zero difference between surgical or N95 respirators when it comes to tests results.


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## GURPS

Rigorous international study of N95 masks upends federal COVID narrative​


Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (AIM) this week and led by researchers at Canada's McMaster University, the study found no statistically significant difference in protection between the two kinds of masks in healthcare facilities in Canada, Israel, Pakistan and Egypt. 

Funders included the Canadian government and World Health Organization, which unlike the U.S. opposes masking young children and also found "no evidence" face coverings made a difference against influenza in a 2019 study.

Previous RCTs in the COVID era have found mediocre protection from face coverings at best. A Danish study of 6,000 that had trouble getting published — and eventually landed in AIM — found no statistically significant difference between surgical and no-mask wearers. 

*A much larger Bangladeshi study led by Yale researchers found that villages that got surgical masks reduced symptomatic infection by 11%, but the confidence interval hit zero and statistical significance disappeared for every age group under 50. Cloth masks had an "imprecise zero" effect.*


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## GURPS




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## TPD

And Los Angeles County considering mandating masks again.  You get what you vote for.


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## GURPS

Uh-oh; earth paging Fauci, Biden, Walensky & the moronic imbeciles at CDC, NIH, FDA et al. and their mask lunacy, as ANNALS RCT show i)masks (surgical) & N95s do NOT stop infection ii)no difference​

No statistically significant difference in protection was found between the two kinds of masks (surgical vs N95) in healthcare facilities (multi-center). So when you are told that it is now time to use the N95 respirator, the fact is that the N95 is no better than the blue surgical mask. They all do not work with these respiratory viruses, both allow infection in, and we knew that day one! Like lockdowns, the masking was also a farse. Like all of the COVID lockdown lunacy.
​Medical Masks Versus N95 Respirators for Preventing COVID-19 Among Health Care Workers​
A Randomized Trial


Abstract​
Background:​It is uncertain if medical masks offer similar protection against COVID-19 compared with N95 respirators.


Objective:​To determine whether medical masks are noninferior to N95 respirators to prevent COVID-19 in health care workers providing routine care.

Design:​Multicenter, randomized, noninferiority trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04296643).

Setting:​29 health care facilities in Canada, Israel, Pakistan, and Egypt from 4 May 2020 to 29 March 2022.

Participants:​1009 health care workers who provided direct care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.

Intervention:​Use of medical masks versus fit-tested N95 respirators for 10 weeks, plus universal masking, which was the policy implemented at each site.

Measurements:​The primary outcome was confirmed COVID-19 on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.

Results:​In the intention-to-treat analysis, RT-PCR–confirmed COVID-19 occurred in 52 of 497 (10.46%) participants in the medical mask group versus 47 of 507 (9.27%) in the N95 respirator group (hazard ratio 
, 1.14 [95% CI, 0.77 to 1.69]). An unplanned subgroup analysis by country found that in the medical mask group versus the N95 respirator group RT-PCR–confirmed COVID-19 occurred in 8 of 131 (6.11%) versus 3 of 135 (2.22%) in Canada (HR, 2.83 [CI, 0.75 to 10.72]), 6 of 17 (35.29%) versus 4 of 17 (23.53%) in Israel (HR, 1.54 [CI, 0.43 to 5.49]), 3 of 92 (3.26%) versus 2 of 94 (2.13%) in Pakistan (HR, 1.50 [CI, 0.25 to 8.98]), and 35 of 257 (13.62%) versus 38 of 261 (14.56%) in Egypt (HR, 0.95 [CI, 0.60 to 1.50]). There were 47 (10.8%) adverse events related to the intervention reported in the medical mask group and 59 (13.6%) in the N95 respirator group.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS




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## GURPS




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## stgislander

Look... a reporter actually doing investigative reporting.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

The New York Times explains to their sad, socially isolated readership why it’s time to mask up again, however stupid they feel being the absolutely last people to bother​

Long-time readers may remember that I can’t write as often in December, because it’s a month of important deadlines in my other life as a journal editor, but I hate letting two days go by without a post, and also I can’t stop laughing at this hilarious New York Times article on Why It’s Time to Wear A Mask Again. The generally excellent Vinay Prasad already caught them citing as “strong evidence” for mask efficacy, this study, which fails to find that masks have any significant effect on rates of influenza infection. Just link to anything and hope nobody notices, Times bros.

The worst, though, is at the very end, when the mask brigade start to reveal a little too much about themselves and their readership:



> “Frankly, to prevent transmission, neither antivirals nor vaccines have done a great job,” said Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease fellow and postdoctoral researcher at Stanford Medicine. “What prevents transmission is actually masking and likely air filtration_.”_
> When weighing when and where to mask, Dr. Madad recommended paying attention to the “Three Cs”: close contact, crowded spaces and confined places with poor ventilation. The experts urged wearing masks while traveling on planes and public transportation, and they strongly suggested doing it while out shopping for groceries and gifts. For smaller holiday parties with people you know, it’s fine to forgo masks if guests test beforehand and stay home if they’re feeling rundown.


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## GURPS

Honestly, I can’t believe I have to do this again. But they’re going to make me, because now they want us to MASK UP for the sextuple threat. Last week, CNBC ran a story headlined, “CDC Encourages People to Wear Masks to Help Prevent Spread of Covid, Flu and RSV Over the Holidays.”

You’ve GOT to be kidding me.

In a call with reporters, hapless CDC Director Walensky claimed wearing masks will help reduce the spread of “respiratory illnesses” this holiday season, since covid, flu and RSV are all circulating at the same time.

In the same article, the American Medical Association’s chairman, Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, said covid, flu and RSV circulating all at the same is “a perfect storm for a terrible holiday season,” offering another terrifying winter of suffering, death, and the glorification of over-educated experts.

It explained why I saw more maskers at Publix lately than I’ve seen in months. They’re the CDC junkies.

I’m not exaggerating. In her call, Walensky explained this season is “another moment of overstretched capacity and really one of tragic and often preventable sadness.” “Overstretched capacity” is the new “overwhelmed.” Next, they’ll start telling us we need to “flatten the curve” again.

It might be the dumbest thing Walensky has ever said in a long series of questionable briefings. Because, according to a May 2020 study ON THE CDC’S OWN WEBSITE, masks don’t work.









https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/special-xmas-eve-edition-saturday


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## spr1975wshs

I wore a mask the past couple of days, for the help it gives to keep the chill air from my face.


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## SamSpade

GURPS said:


> https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/special-xmas-eve-edition-saturday


I think I remember one of my kids complaining about a fart - while wearing a mask.
Ditto - someone smoking.

And the fact is, if you can smell - well really ANYTHING while wearing a mask, you're not blocking any virus at all.

Let me propose this - you've just walked into a lab where they have vials of say, Ebola. In one of the labs, a vial breaks -

Would you be good going in with - a surgical mask? How about if the only barrier was - a hanging bit of plexiglass?
The measures we use to "protect" from COVID are nearly useless. The only thing I knew that ever had a chance of stopping the virus
is quarantine. And even THAT isn't foolproof, as I know handfuls of people who got COVID *while* quarantined.


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